The pandemic has hit every county in Pennsylvania hard.

Some larger counties saw significant increases months ago, while smaller counties like Carbon, are seeing surges now, two medical professionals said Monday.

Carbon County Commissioner Chris Lukasevich held a livestreamed question-and-answer event with St. Luke’s doctors Jeffrey Jahre and William Markson about COVID-19 in Carbon County and vaccine dissemination.

Jahre is St. Luke’s network chief of epidemiology, and Markson is the chief of cardiology and vice president of medical affairs for the Carbon region.

“If you look at the map (of coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania) and look at Carbon County, you see there is somewhat of a less dense coloration because it talks about cumulative cases,” Jahre said, noting that Pennsylvania has over 750,000 confirmed and probable cases combined with nearly 20,000 deaths. “Cumulative cases isn’t a good way of looking at this because it doesn’t give you a sense of population.”

He said that if you look at the map’s details closer down to the cases per 100,000 in rolling periods, Carbon County’s has a denser coloration than it had in the beginning of December.

“Carbon County has gotten worse,” Jahre said. “The worst of it in Pennsylvania was about two weeks ago, but that is not the case in Carbon County. Carbon County is lagging in the recovery period. If it follows the rest of the state, then you will start to see the line (of case surges) come down a little bit in a few weeks.”

Jahre noted this is because Carbon County was spared mostly in the beginning waves of the pandemic, meaning that fewer people have immunity now and “they are paying the price for it.”

He warned that people shouldn’t begin to ease up on caution because he feels “we aren’t out of the woods … a lot of us feel that with the new strains that are coming around that are much more transmissible, we’re all going to pay a price for it in March as it takes hold in the country.”

Markson, who specifically spoke about the St. Luke’s Lehighton Campus, said that in that specific hospital, trend lines for hospitalization cases are decreasing slightly, which he hopes may be a growing trend, rather than a temporary lull.

Looking at cases, both Jahre and Markson said that it is important to note that once you are exposed, it could take upward of 14 days for symptoms to show and that you are most contagious 48 hours before those symptoms begin. You also are infectious at least 10 days after symptoms begin unless you become very ill, when you may be contagious for a significantly longer period of time.

Vaccine rollout

Lukasevich asked how the vaccine rollout has been within the health system and what the view looks like for vaccinating the general population in the coming months.

Over St. Luke’s campuses as a whole, Jahre said there has been some hesitation and the overall rate of employees who received it is at 71 percent, with a projected increase to 80 percent at the end of the week.

Locally, Markson said that the Lehighton campus has lagged slightly at first, but after employees were seeing colleagues get the vaccine and not having problems, the percent of those who received at least one dose so far is almost 70 percent. Plans to meet with those who have not yet been vaccinated are also in the works.

Jahre said that those in the upcoming phases can begin to preregister on St. Luke’s MyChart. The questionnaire asks what age group you are in, as well as your occupation. For those without the internet, they can also call 1-866-STLUKES, option 7 to get the information to register to get the vaccine.

Who should get the vaccine?

St. Luke’s, on Tuesday afternoon, announced that the health system is preparing to move to the next phase, which opens scheduling up to people age 65 and older and those 16 to 64 with underlying medical conditions.

Jahre and Markson stressed that you do not need to be a St. Luke’s patient to obtain the vaccine from the health system, but noted you must be a Pennsylvania resident.

Markson said that everyone who can get the vaccine should, noting that some people with allergies may be more prone to have a reaction, but those are still rare.

In addition, people who had symptomatic COVID-19 within the last 90 days shouldn’t get the vaccine right away.

Dispelling rumors

Both Jahre and Markson said that there have been many rumors circulating on why people are hesitant to get the vaccine, including fertility issues, ingredients and transmission.

They stressed that pregnant and breast-feeding women should also get the vaccine because there is no proof of it having a negative impact on fertility. Many of the St. Luke’s staff who are pregnant have already received the vaccines.

Markson said he has heard a lot of people saying they wouldn’t get the vaccine because they didn’t know what was in it.

To that, he said, “Have you ever had a hot dog? We know it’s really tasty, but we have no idea what’s in it.

“These vaccines are extremely, extremely safe and extremely, extremely effective. We have a moral responsibility to protect each other and protect ourselves and get the vaccine.”

When asked what they would say in five words to convince a “vaccine doubter” to get the vaccine, both Jahre and Markson felt the answers were simple.

“Love, care, family,” Jahre said.

“Care for yourself and society,” Markson said.

Lukasevich added his thoughts would be, “For the ones you love.”