MONTOUR COUNTY, Pa. — Geisinger medical's president and CEO Dr. Jaewon Ryu spoke to the media at his weekly news conference about the ongoing pandemic and current conditions in the region.
"We continue to see alarmingly high rates of infection and of hospitalization. I think that has been the story, even from our last press briefing," said Dr. Ryu.
In the month of December, Ryu says the hospital system averaged 400 positive tests per day. So far, about the same number continues in the new year.
"The numbers of people who are in the hospital with the disease are substantially more, which means even though the percentage and rate has gone down, but the number of people have gone up, so net more people and more deaths have occurred in the month of December," said Dr. Ryu.
By the end of next week, Geisinger will have issued 19,000 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
"We also administered over 300 second doses just a couple of days ago, which was our first day of administering second doses, and so as the days go by, we will do more and more second doses as we continue to get people in for those first doses," said Dr. Ryu.
Dr. Ryu is urging the public to get the vaccine once it is made available.
"please go ahead and get your vaccination, whether it's through us or others delivering the vaccination. It is going to help the entirety of our communities with the more of us that get vaccinated," said Dr. Ryu.
Geisinger medical professionals also said that even after receiving the vaccine, you must still practice social distancing and masking to help prevent the spread.