March 1st, 2021 by WCBC Radio
Allegany County hit the 10,000 mark of residents vaccinated on Sunday February 28th, 2021.
As of Sunday, 10,088 Allegany County residents had received the first dose of the vaccine, just over 14% of the population. The second dose of the vaccine has been administered to 7,137 residents.
Jake Shade, President of the Board of County Commissioners, praised the Allegany County Health Department and UPMC-Western Maryland for their efforts.
“I believe we are running one of the best vaccination programs in the State of Maryland in terms of efficiency, the only thing that is holding us back from administering more doses is receiving more doses. This vaccination program was achieved while also running a large scale testing location at the fairgrounds.”
He continued:
“This milestone is another step to returning to normalcy. We need to remain cautious over the next few months, but we should recognize the incredible drop in cases since the peak in December and even the decrease in the last 30 days.”
On Saturday, Allegany County had the lowest case rate in Maryland at 3.04 per 100,000 residents. Statewide, the rate is 13.57. Allegany County’s highest peak occurred on December 6th with 198.41 cases per 100,000 residents.
Also as of Saturday, Allegany County had the lowest positivity percentage in the state at 1.02%, compared to the statewide number of 3.46%. On January 31st, Allegany County’s positivity percentage was 5.37%, a decrease from the peak of 18.81% on December 5th.
Shade concluded:
“We are going to keep working hard in every way we can. That means continuing to vaccinate the public as fast as we can, administering local covid relief funds to businesses who have been impacted, working with the Board of Education to ensure they have every resource necessary to get students back in school safely, and keeping your county government running smoothly. It’s been incredible to see our community work together over the last year.”
Allegany County Government has dispersed $3,250,558 in grants to over 300 local businesses since May 2020.
The Allegany County Office Complex will re-open to the public Monday, March 8th, 2021 at 8:00 a.m.
The Allegany County Board of Commissioners meetings will be open to the public, following social distancing guidelines, at the next Public Business Meeting on Thursday, March 8th, 2021 at 5:00 p.m.
