DCH Coronavirus Update 9-24-21

Update Sept. 24, 2021

COVID-19 Booster Approved by FDA and CDC for Certain Groups

Following approval from the FDA, last night the CDC approved a certain groups of individuals to receive a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster shot. The list of groups, provided on the CDC website, is shown below.

CDC recommends:

• people 65 years and older and residents in long-term care settings should receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series,
• people aged 50–64 years with underlying medical conditions should receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine atleast 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series,
• people aged 18–49 years with underlying medical conditions may receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks, and
• people aged 18-64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting [health care workers] may receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks.

Members of the public who are eligible and wish to receive a booster can register to receive the vaccination at DCH using the following link: https://www.dchsystem.com/covidvaccine/. The registration form is being updated to reflect the groups eligible for the booster. For now, if you would like to receive the booster and are eligible based on the information above, then when you register click on the “Third vaccination (Booster)” option and in the drop down select “Yes.”

Currently DCH’s remote vaccination site is only open on Friday’s from 7 a.m. – 5:50 p.m. DCH is evaluating options to increase capacity if the demand for boosters is high.

COVID-19 Information

To protect patient privacy, DCH has established a minimum threshold of five for reporting numbers of inpatients with laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19.

DCH Health System internal counts as of 3:06 p.m. on 9/24/21:

• 124 inpatients within the DCH system who are positive for COVID-19.
• 23 inpatients who are positive for COVID-19 are being treated in the ICU.
• 17 inpatients who are positive for COVID-19 are on ventilators.
• 11,191 (cumulative) unique positives for COVID-19 tests including results from the ED, triage tent and inpatient. These individuals are not necessarily in the hospital.
• 50,282 cumulative) unique negatives for COVID-19 at DCH sites.
• 13,703 (cumulative) positive COVID-19 at DCH sites. These individuals are not necessarily in the hospital.
• 103,646 (cumulative) negative tests at DCH sites.
• 3,938 inpatients (cumulative) who were positive for COVID-19 have been discharged.
• 698 inpatients (cumulative) who were positive for COVID-19 have died at DCH. This is not an indication of the cause of death, only that the individuals were positive for COVID-19 at the time of death.