DCH Coronavirus Update 1-6-22

Update Jan. 6, 2022

FDA and CDC Approve COVID-19 Boosters for 12-17 Year Olds

The FDA and CDC have approved the COVID-19 booster for individuals who are 12 years or older.

“CDC now recommends that adolescents age 12 to 17 years old should receive a booster shot 5 months after their initial Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination series,” said the Centers for Disease Control in a media statement.

At this time, only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is authorized for this group. DCH offers the Pfizer vaccine first dose, second dose and booster to individuals age 12 years old or older. The dosage for children 5 to 11 years old is different and is not offered at DCH at this time. Vaccines for children in this age range are available at some local pharmacies and pediatric offices.

Eligible individuals can sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine booster through the DCH website at https://www.dchsystem.com/covidvaccine/.

COVID Update

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 2:15 p.m. on 1/6/22:

• 70 inpatients within the DCH system who are positive for COVID-19.
• 12 inpatients who are positive for COVID-19 are being treated in the ICU.
• 6 inpatients who are positive for COVID-19 are on ventilators.
• Five or fewer inpatients who are positive for COVID-19 are on BiPAP.
• 12,867 (cumulative) unique positives for COVID-19 tests including results from the ED, triage tent and inpatient. These individuals are not necessarily in the hospital.
• 56,181 (cumulative) unique negatives for COVID-19 at DCH sites.
• 15,515 (cumulative) positive COVID-19 at DCH sites. These individuals are not necessarily in the hospital.
• 121,237 (cumulative) negative tests at DCH sites.
• 4,359 inpatients (cumulative) who were positive for COVID-19 have been discharged.
• 783 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.