Hello, and welcome to PBS39 and WLVT community update on coronavirus.

It's - with help from our community partners.

Lehigh Valley Health Network.

I'm where ESSWEIN Our guests today include a critical care doctor who has treated some of the sickest Covid-19 patients throughout this pandemic.

We're also joined by a representative of PA CareerLink to talk about jobs and the pandemic.

They'll be with us in just a few moments.

In the meantime, if you have a question, you can give us a call.

The phone numbers 4 8 4 8 2 1 0 0 0 8.

Our guest will answer some of your questions live.

Plus, daily coronavirus updates.

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You can do that at our website.

Carone virus Lehigh Valley .org.

You can find helpful information in both English and Spanish.

Now let's take a look at some of our top headlines for the day.

The Allentown Health Bureau is being forced to cancel a second dose vaccination scheduled for the rest of the week at the Allentown Fairgrounds grounds.

It's because the health bureau isn't receiving any more allocation this week from the state.

Last week, the state blamed the supply shortage on miscommunication and other factors.

The second dose appointments are being rescheduled, but folks will have to wait.

tomorrow and Wednesday will get their shots at the same time and place.

Thursday, March 4th, Thursday and Friday, appointments for this week now will be held at the same times next Wednesday, March 3rd.

President Joe Biden in just a little while will mark the US passing.

500,000 lives lost from Covid-19 a moment of silence and candle lighting ceremony are being planned for sunset at the White House.

The nation is expected to surpass the half million mark in deaths today.

A little over a year after the first confirmed US vitality from the novel coronavirus, Biden will be joined by First Lady Jill Biden.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Imhoff.

St Luke's marked a milestone of a different sort.

The health network celebrated, giving its 100 thousandth vaccine dose Friday.

St Luke says it is vaccinating about 3000 people a day at 11 sites across its coverage area, promising numbers amid other signs of hope.

Today's also exciting because we're starting to see a downtrend in our Covid activity both in our community and in our hospitals.

I think we look at this with cautious optimism.

There's a lot out there in terms of these novel strains and we're not out of the woods yet with Covid, but we look to this vaccine as our best shot in terms of moving forward to the next stages of this pandemic and hopefully seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Meanwhile, across Pennsylvania, the numbers of New cases and people hospitalized from Covid-19 continues their downward trends.

Today, the state reported 1521 coronavirus cases and 27 more deaths.

Just over 1,900 people are hospitalized, which is well below the peak of more than 6000 earlier this year.

All told, Pennsylvania in the last year has had 915 thousand cases and 23,600 14 deaths.

It is time now to meet our guests for the day.

Dr Jennifer Ravello is chief of critical care medicine Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Also here is Mike Dopkin of PA CareerLink Lehigh Valley office in Allentown.

We thank you both so much for joining us today.

Mike, we will be with you in just a few moments.

So we're going to start today with Dr Ravello.

Thank you for being here.

The picture today looking a little bit different than the last time you were here.

It was a bit different with beds filling up in hospital hospitalizations from Covid-19 on the rise and near their peak the last time just a few weeks ago.

Now those numbers are coming down across the state.

I want to start is the same thing happening at Lehigh Valley Health Network?

Are you seeing those numbers begin to drop Gamma Thanks for having me.

Right now, of course, we are also finally seeing a decline in hospitalization across all of our sites, including ICU patients.

Great.

So what is it like right now?

In the ICU near its peak?

All the beds were full.

Is that the same case in the critical care unit right now?

I'm happy to report that it's not.

We are have been able to close the additional ICU locations within our networks that were our overflow.

I use and we are still housing them in nice use at this point.

Our numbers are down.

Our ventilated patients total numbers are also down across all of our sites.

So in total, we have seen a decline and we feel that decline in a good way.

That's a good thing.

Great to hear.

Why do you think that is?

Why are those numbers dropping at this point?

Probably from a couple different factors.

Now, we've been through all of our holidays.

We've had Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's.

We've not seen any significant surges from Super Bowl.

Thank goodness we've had I think Mother Nature on our side.

We've had a couple of snowstorms thrown in there.

So people have not been getting out.

People have been having masking as well.

We have outpatient therapy set up, been helpful, keeping our patients from meeting hospitalizations.

And I think for all of those reasons coming together, we have been able to see a decline @every day over the past month when it when we talk about vaccines, how big of a factor are they in that hospitalization and case count coming down?

Do you think that they're playing a role quite yet, a large role or small role?

Any role at all?

I think it's a good question.

I fully expect the vaccines to make an impact on an ongoing basis since rolling them out in mid-December, December till this point, I don't have the numbers to say that there's a true decrease house operation just from our vaccinations.

But I would expect it to have a role in this and going forward.

Let's switch gears and talk about now the treatment for Covid-19.

Of course, a year ago this was and now we're a year in.

We'll talk to me about treatment for Covid-19 and how far we've come over the past year, if you could.

You've had a lot of changes in the past year.

A lot of literature has come out about what we thought would work.

But didn't work and how it changed course is a few different times.

Well, we have found for our hospitalized patients is using a combination for those patients with lower oxygen levels of steroids and an antiviral.

And in some cases we're also able to use an additional medication that targets and AID.

The targets, inflammatory marker.

It's called Tocilizumab is the medication that we're using and select patients as well as we know coronavirus will augment or increase the inflammatory response in some patients.

So for in patients.

We do have a Corddry now of things that have been proven to be helpful.

Sure.

Statistically, is that helping or hurting when it comes to number of deaths, number of cases, number of people on ventilators, that kind of thing?

Great question.

I think when we look at the patients that are getting these medications, they're certainly used to help prevent the severe the disease or those patients that have the severity tried to prevent them from being on the ventilator or shorten the duration of being on a ventilator or their illness.

So it depends upon which medication.

But in concert, that is the goal for all three of them.

Sure.

Dr Avella, a lot lately we've been hearing about this.

Moderna clonal antibody infusion.

Can you talk to us about that and how that works and if it really is helping treat people with Covid-19 Gamma I feel that monoclonal antibodies are making a difference.

Our patients we do not operate in patients because of the point of using them is really to prevent further disease progression and getting into the hospital.

So all of our centers we use the Covid Cares program in a remote patient monitoring to have patients referred in for evaluation that meet certain criteria for age and having additional medical issues like obesity with the BMI greater than 35 or being immunosuppressed.

So those patients can then get the therapies to help prevent the disease progression.

And how does that work?

How does that work in those patients?

We're taking that home.

What do they have to do?

Is it a pill regimen?

Is it something else?

How does work?

It is once you're referred to the center, then you would be evaluated and come in for it.

Fusion and the monoclonal antibody is like a synthetic protein where it's helping your body augment the immune response to fight the virus back in the ICU.

Talk to us about who you're seeing.

I know in the beginning it was the very it was the people who were very sick were the people who were a little bit older.

Are you still seeing that Gamma Are you able to treat the very sick a little bit better now?

Talk to me about all of that.

What's happening in the ICU?

If you could.

I think we've seen a change.

And we did see a lot of elderly patients in our first way.

We had some of the younger patients.

I think we're seeing a mix at this point where we have anywheres from mid to late 30s into the 90s.

But a lot of patients are in the middle life.

So we have 40 50s, 60s, 70s, and it's kind of just a range.

It's not your typical Jesse Topper nursing home patient.

It's you moms, dads, grandmoms, grandpop, get every kind of walk of life and co-morbidity that we're seeing.

It's not really hitting just our elderly population.

Sure.

And those people, once they are out of the ICU because of Covid and maybe they start to get a little bit better.

Are they able to get vaccinated right away?

We have recommended that we're following the CDC guidelines that believe it's about a 90 day waiting period from the time of your initial infection before you can go and get a vaccine.

And why is that when people get more sick because of the vaccine or what's the reason for that 90 day waiting period?

Great question.

I feel like when you have your Your body itself is doing ave.P great job and mounting its antibodies as much as possible.

And those antibodies can remain in effect for a period of time.

So 90 days seems to be a good amount of time for the body to have that up and running, which is why we say to wait that period, we're getting your vaccine.

Are you seeing anybody come into the ICU because of the vaccine?

I know we're hearing people, especially with the second dose, are getting a little bit sick or feeling sick because of the vaccine.

Is anybody reaching the ICU because we've not seen anybody reaching ICU for any sort of ill towards fact?

Second, vaccine.

I'm happy to say that's wonderful.

Here and that's wonderful to hear.

I want to ask things in the ICU.

Obviously they've changed over the last year.

We've been asking a lot of people this question what do you think will change permanently Gamma How will intensive care medicine change because of the coronavirus Gamma I think we are seeing the second nature of wearing full PPE at all times and being very vigilant.

You know, not knowing what the future may hold, but trying to protect our health care workers.

We know that we have an ongoing education in front of us so that we can learn from other states, other countries, all the literature that comes out.

So this is not just we found something and we're going to stop it as we found some things that are helpful.

What else can we do to combat this?

Next to the vaccine for our patients?

So I feel like we have more to learn and we have to keep vigilant and see see how it goes.

Sure.

And what it comes to your staff.

This started out the sprint ended up being a marathon.

How is morale today?

Almost a year later, I feel morale is more being fatigued.

Tired that at times because there are some patients that we invest everything in, just like we want all of our patients to be a success.

Well and unfortunately succumb to the Covid virus.

So when that has been playing out and knowing that the vaccine is here, we're still not getting success in getting as much vaccination as we need.

But we'll get there.

In the meantime, to have to see someone so sick for so long, it can wear on you.

So it's certainly not happy in the ICU, but we're all doing our part.

We're helping patients families by reaching out to them, calling them using IV Pennsburg face time just to keep those connections going and to keep that human quality about that.

Sure.

And how about for you as chief of critical care for Lehigh Valley Health Network?

How has your life changed?

Obviously a physician's life is already pretty busy and long hours, but how has Covid changed life for you?

Like everybody else, masking has become second nature.

I like masking under my seat.

I have masks in my purse, masks in my bag.

So I am definitely a whole bunch of masks and making sure that, you know, before I would come home and have my kids hug me and now I have to follow the policy of, OK, I'm going to leave all of my work clothes in the garage, go home, shower and then have that as a different part of my day.

So, you know, as much as I want that the hugs from my kids and my husband, I just have to delay that a little bit every time I come home from the hospital.

Yeah, that's gotta be tough.

But you're just trying to keep your own family safe.

I'm sure now you're fully vaccinated.

What are some of the things you can start to do now, if anything?

Because you're fully vaccinated?

I have not changed anything that I've actually done.

My rule still to keep wearing my mask.

Washing my hands.

Staying socially distant.

I don't feel like I would want to stop any of those things.

Do I go shopping?

I love to shop.

Did I learn how to do a lot more online shopping?

Yes.

So again, if I'm going to be going out, I'm still going to do all the same things I did before.

Even fully vaccinated just because I know the rest, the community may not be.

And I'm going to do my part.

Dr Avella, until we get more of the community vaccinated, what is your message for people to continue to wear their mask and social distance?

Why is that so important?

I think that we still again, are learning.

We know that we have the variance.

They have been popping up and until we have that herd immunity orange, shall we have more people vaccinated?

We have to protect one another.

We have to do our jobs and love one another essentially to prevent them from going into the hospital and having to end up in our intensive care units like what I see.

Wonderful.

Dr Ravello.

Chief of critical care medicine Lehigh Valley Health Network, thank you so much for joining us once again today.

Thank you.

And we continue this community update on coronavirus on PBS39.

You can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tonight at 9:30 on WLVT News.

91 three FM Let's bring in our next guest for the day.

Mike Dopkin is administrator PA CareerLink Lehigh Valley.

It's an employment and training center that connects employers with job seekers.

Mike, thank you so much for joining us today.

These are tough times to be out of work and looking for a job so many are right now.

Your office helps make those connections.

Are there jobs right here in the Lehigh Valley for people to be applying to right now?

Thank you for having me.

But there's your question.

Yes, absolutely.

There are jobs to be had here in the Lehigh Valley last week.

We had a new manufacturer.

They're going gonna be new to the area into Bethlehem.

They came in for hiring on Tuesday and Wednesday and they made 50 55 job offers over those two days.

We have at least one employer come in every week to meet with job seekers to fill the open positions.

There are there are several jobs that need to be filled in Lehigh Valley sort of someone is looking for a job and you're saying there's jobs to be had, jobs to apply to.

How does one go about that?

Should they just come to career links that they log on on the website?

What's the best way to take action when you're looking for a job?

I think that depends on their level comfort with technology.

They can certainly register on PA CareerLink PIAA gov, which is the state's job board to search on their own and apply for those jobs or if they need some assistance, they can certainly call our office to 7.2 and then we have staff that will be able to walk them through the process of applying for a job that's good to hear.

We know the hospitality industry restaurants, hotels, they've taken a huge hit.

Those jobs.

Talk to me about some of the industries that have taken a similar hit and then other industries that are thriving and have jobs available if you could.

But Summit Hill is let's start with the positive.

Some of the driving positions, its manufacturing, health care, warehousing and distribution those jobs or are readily available CDL truck driving those jobs are or plentiful as well along with the biggest hit that we saw was the restaurant and hospitality.

Like you said, we did notice last year when we when this all started and the economy shedding jobs, several.

I'll just have to say that no industry was really spared from that.

We saw layoffs from everything in light industrial.

The auto sales was surprisingly a large hit fairly, fairly significant.

But I think those are a lot of that was a precaution, too.

Nobody what was going on with the virus and everybody was taking steps to keep their staff safe.

Sure.

Just going to ask, have seen any of the industry start to come back, especially as people are getting vaccinated, that kind of thing?

We're in a new year is starting to see more jobs, pop.

Employers are certainly hungry for applicants.

It's across the board.

We have another event on on Wednesday with re millwork coming in and they're hiring for several different positions as well as ocean.

There are next.

They're grouping on on Wednesday.

So in that again is across the board for maintenance technicians, CDL drivers, material handlers basically there are job opportunities to match the skill set to several people.

Sure.

Mike, these are events that you're holding on Wednesday, these employer events.

What do people need to know about those events?

How can they get involved Gamma How can the employer get involved?

How can people seeking jobs get involved?

What's the best course of action Gamma What did they need to know?

Is contacting, ruling, giving us a call.

We email them whether it's an employer or a a job seeker, we can set that up for them.

And at the office PA CareerLink itself.

Like you said, it's everybody's level.

Everybody has a different level of comfort whether you go online or you come in in person.

What about the people who work at Career Link?

What have you had to do office?

Life has definitely changed over the last.

How is it changed for you?

Office life is certainly changed.

We're of very large office and we have with staff and or clientele.

We have ballpark of 60 people working in the office.

Unlike pre Covid conditions.

Right now the majority of the staff are working remotely.

We have we're open for appointments Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for four clients and we have a where we broke our staff up into a team 18 B just to keep that rotation going and it is we would typically Covid 150 to 200 people a day coming through our office, if not more.

And now we're down to about 20 appointments a day with that just to keep everything.

Everything's safe really saw and a lot of things have gone so remote that you can access so many more, so much more online these days.

But what are some of the services that career link offers to people who are coming and looking for a job in person?

We have or computer or career resource room where we typically have 38 computers.

Their open for the public for anything that somebody needs for free work search.

We've scale that back down from the 38 to about.

We can hold seven comfortably with social distancing.

We have access to unemployment.

If anybody needs any kind of office equipment for scanning email or scanning or copying, we have resources for that.

Again, there's personal assistance with developing a - or applying for those jobs online as well.

Our retraining or learning a new skill can be daunting.

How can career link help and those fields?

Sure, we have through a couple of different programs depending Siamese situation we can help them with earning a certificate or some kind of a degree program in certain situations.

Are they really the first step is contacting the career link and explain your situation to the staff member or they'll get you in the right direction to help them out.

Saw Mike what so many jobs moving to remote access right now.

Do you see a lot of people seeking jobs that have remote access?

A lot of people saying I really just feel comfortable working from home.

I need those jobs.

Are you seeing people seeking or are you seeing a lot more jobs pop up?

It is a concern and it is one of the questions that employers are or asked by my applicants.

But what are you doing to keep your staff safe Gamma And we are seeing a increase in jobs that have the possibility of going virtual or like Roger Stone starting off.

Mike, I was just going to ask what are you hearing from clients?

What's their biggest need?

What do they need right now?

In the midst of a pandemic?

They may be looking for a job.

What are they looking for most right now?

I think it's a safety of the job, everybody.

We just talked about it.

We're a year into this and I think a lot of people or obviously everybody wants to maintain their safety, but that we have a list of 850 individuals who will be there.

Unemployment will be exhausting in a little less than a month between March.

And we're just trying to get those folks back connected to employers safely.

Sure.

A lot of big employers who already had office workers have come out during this pandemic and said, you know what, we're not going to go back to the office.

Are you seeing a lot of employers come out, say that in the Lehigh Valley and say, if so, do you think this is the future of office life?

Do you think more people are going to be working remotely for an extended period of time, maybe years to come or maybe forever?

I haven't had that conversation with any employers, but I certainly think just from what we've seen in that it is it's going to be be the future.

Even with our office, we have the possibility of working remotely under certain circumstances that normally we're just well, last week was a great example.

Typically when the snow would come and we had five inches of snow, our office was shut down and there would be a paid office for the staff.

Now with the ability that we can work remote, we just closed the office for two customers and staff just continued to do do their work remotely keeping contact with the clients through email or phone, whatever, whatever it is.

So we don't miss any we have a lot less downtime now and I believe that's a benefit for for all of the businesses.

Choi I think we're seeing that across the board when it comes to state funding and resources.

What kind of resources is career length getting from the state to help people find jobs Gamma What we can do to be funded through the workforce innovation Opportunity Act and that comes through under the we'll programming.

There's additional training involved.

We have locally we have a cap of $10,000 for additional training that if we're individuals who are qualified for it, they're we have several hundred people a year take take advantage of that training.

Scarnati along long with that also comes with that case management.

It opens up to the recruiters on our business services team.

So getting about with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is they expands an individual's network almost almost automatically.

Great.

Some great resources there.

Mike, one more time for those who want to connect with career link, how can they do so Gamma The easiest way would be give us a call 6, 10, 4, 3, 7, 5, 6, 2, 7.

Extension 0 will get you to several staff members that will be able to help you out and get you in the right direction.

Wonderful Mike Dopkin from Career Link and the Lehigh Valley.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you for having me.

And we want to thank our guests for being here, both of our guests, of course, and you for watching community update on coronavirus.

We'll be here at 4pm each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on PBS39 and on the radio 9:30 those same nights on WLVT News.

We'll be back Wednesday at 4:00 with guests from LVHN and others from the community.

If you have a question, you can leave it at our website, PBS39.org.

On social media or you can give us a call.

The numbers 44 8 2 1 0 0 0 8 4 PBS39 and WLVT News.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Stay safe.