“I have better news today. The number of cases has been falling in the last three weeks, but the number of cases is still high and we have to be careful,” said Farley.
On Tuesday, the city reported a 41% decrease in cases since the implementation of their “Safer At Home” restrictions, translating into some of the lowest infection rates in the region for some time.
“So we take this as proof that the restrictions are working,” added Farley.
However, he warned that the combination of both Christmas and New Year’s holidays, ill-advised gatherings, could increase the number of cases again.
“These two spikes can run together and they can eat from each other,” he said.
To date, while still in the early stages of the rollout, more than 18,000 health workers in high-risk environments have received a COVID 19 vaccine in the city.
Farley said the city will receive less than 10,000 doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the next 2 weeks.
“The number of doses is small, so people who want to get vaccinated, including health professionals, will have to be patient to get the vaccine,” Farley said.
As the weeks progress, nonprofits like Philly Fighting COVID will work with the city to get more Philadelphiaians, particularly health workers, vaccinated.
“The goal should be, once we get the vaccine in our hands, it should be in someone’s arm,” said Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jose Torradas.
Torradas said one of the goals of the group is to help the city achieve herd immunity.
“So many business interests want to get back, those hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, without counting the thousands of lives we lose every day because we are not inviolable to the herd,” said Torradas.
Farley said the city’s health systems are working to distribute the vaccines as soon as possible.
“I don’t believe any of them are holding the vaccine, they certainly shouldn’t be. There are plenty of people who should be in line,” he said.
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