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Nearly 80% Of PPS Teachers Have Been Partially Vaccinated

Katie Blackley
/
90.5 WESA
A Pittsburgh Public Schools educator gets her temperature checked at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic on the North Shore.

Nearly 100,000 Pennsylvania teachers and school staff have been partially vaccinated including most of those in the city school district.

Nearly 80% of Pittsburgh Public Schools employees have been partially vaccinated. About 3,000 staff participated in a two-day clinic this month, but the district says it can’t track who hasn’t received a shot.

Sarah Schneider reports half of the 22,000 PPS students are expected to return in-person in April after 13 months of remote learning. The district says it expects the other half to return this school year, but administrators won’t commit to a date.

Gov. Tom Wolf dictated that the state’s allotment of single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccines be used for educators. The state’s National Guard is administering those shots.

Pennsylvania Department of Health amends its Universal Face Coverings order to align with federal recommendations

Pennsylvanians who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are now permitted to visit indoors with other fully vaccinated people, without masks or physical distancing. Sarah Boden reports the agency says people may do the same with others from a single household who are low risk for severe COVID disease. Vaccinated people must still take other precautions, like wearing masks and physical distancing in public.   
 
Latest numbers:

Allegheny County (over 48 hours):

  • 425 new cases
  • 1 new death

Pennsylvania (over 48 hours):

  • 3,920 new cases
  • 1,554 hospitalizations
  • 320 patients in the ICU
  • 15 new deaths 
  • 1,529,898 people fully vaccinated

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