The Department of Health distributed the fifth shipment of the investigational antiviral medication, remdesivir, to treat patients in the hospital with COVID-19, with 4,788 doses of medication were sent to 82 hospitals.

The federal government distributed the shipment to the department on Wednesday.

The Department of Health first distributed 1,200 doses of the medication to 51 hospitals across Pennsylvania on May 12. A second round of 7,938 doses were sent to 79 hospitals on May 15 and May 18, a third round of 8,928 doses was distributed to 81 hospitals on May 22 and a fourth round of 4,400 doses was distributed to 73 hospitals on June 3.

The hospitals that have received these shipments were determined based on the number and severity of COVID-19 patients at the hospital and the facility’s documented usage of previous rounds of remdesivir.

Remdesivir is given to a patient through an IV once per day for up to 10 days, depending on how critically ill the patient is.

In other COVID-19 news, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced more than 4,000 close contacts of COVID-19 cases have been identified and monitored to date through the contact tracing efforts of 500 trained contact tracers throughout the state, including 130 state health nurses.

These efforts include the support from the six county health departments and four municipal health departments who have primary responsibility for all efforts inside their jurisdiction.

“We are now equipped with hundreds of contact tracers that can help us mitigate the spread of this virus, but we still need Pennsylvanians to be alert as COVID-19 remains a threat in our communities,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.

Over 800 contract tracers have volunteered through the ServPA platform, at least 50 through AmeriCorps and hundreds through other community organizations or academic institutions. The state has focused on building partnerships with organizations like AmeriCorps, who are volunteering 50 individuals to perform contact tracing this summer and exploring an additional 100 individuals in the fall. This month, Temple University has plans to onboard 200 students to help with contact tracing.