U.K. covid variant detected in Allegheny County, officials say

Allegheny County officials announced Wednesday the covid-19 variant first identified in the United Kingdom has been detected in the county.

Dr. Debra Bogen, the county’s health director, said the case is the first and only U.K. variant reported in the county thus far. The health department has completed a case investigation, and the person does not know how they contracted the variant, she said.

“I suspect that it’s been present in the county for a while,” Bogen said. “This news reinforces the need for us all to double down on the efforts we’re taking to control the spread of the virus.”

The U.K. variant has been shown to spread more easily and quickly than the original novel coronavirus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, British experts report the variant may lead to an increased risk of death compared to other strains of the virus — but more studies are needed to confirm this finding.

Bogen said the county’s overall infection levels have been improving — with hospitalizations and the rate of daily cases declining.

She encouraged continued vigilance as vaccine supply remains a challenge. Though the Pennsylvania Department of Health has reported slight increases in vaccine allocations from the federal government, Bogen said Allegheny County has not seen an increase in allocations from the state.

“Vaccine supply is still our biggest challenge,” she said. “Of the supply that has come into the county, as a whole, only 11% of those doses come to the Allegheny County Health Department to distribute.”

The county is gradually improving its methods of getting vaccine to those with the highest risk of illness or death from covid — including introducing a 2-1-1 phone line for registrations last week (which was quickly overwhelmed with a high call volume and an attack by scammers intercepting calls). Before the phone line, vaccine registration through the county health department had to be done through an online form, which posed a barrier to many older residents who do not own computers or are otherwise uncomfortable with the technology.

Wednesday marked the first day county health employees, the Department of Human Services, county emergency services and the county housing authority, as well as volunteers from the Medical Reserve Corps, delivered vaccine directly to residents of a senior high rise in Homestead. Bogen said the team visited the building earlier this week to hand out information about the vaccine; today, they registered people on-site and distributed doses.

The team will be handing out doses to senior high rises managed by the housing authority throughout the county, Bogen said, but she called it a “pilot program that we will expand to other low-income, subsidized senior living facilities, as the supply of vaccine allows.

“The health department’s primary role in vaccine distribution should be to fill in the gaps,” Bogen said. “And we worry that these seniors could fall in the gap.”

With nine in 10 covid deaths in the county among people age 65 and older — higher than the national average — Bogen said this initiative to reach seniors where they live is one part of the county’s vaccination plan.

“As the supply of vaccine allows, more large-scale vaccination clinics will open around the county,” Bogen said. “My goal is to have clinics in the north, south, east, west and center to make sure people don’t have to drive across the county to find a vaccine.”