Hello and welcome to PBS39 WLVT Community update on coronavirus brought to you with help from our community partner Lehigh Valley Health Network.

We're coming to you live from the PPE public Media Center in Bethlehem.

I'm Brittany Sweeney Our guests today include an infectious disease doctor from LVHN as well as the presidents of Planned Parenthood Keystone to discuss how the pandemic has impacted their mission.

We'll meet with them in just a few moments.

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 four daily coronavirus updates.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

You can do that at our website coronavirus Lehigh Valley .org.

You can find helpful information there in both English and Spanish.

Let's take a look at the day's top headlines.

Today, the State Department of Health reported 4688 new coronavirus cases and 138 more deaths.

About 3100 Pennsylvanians are hospitalized with Covid-19 down from the peak of over 6000 in early January.

All told, Pennsylvania has recorded over 861,000 cases of the virus and 22,200 and 39 deaths.

Pennsylvania lawmakers want the national Guard to assist in Covid vaccine delivery.

Frustration has mounted over the amount of vaccine supply and the pace of distribution.

Today, the state House voted unanimously to have the National Guard work with the department, health and Emergency Management.

They would come up with a plan for setting up vaccination sites in different regions.

The bill now moves to the Senate.

Also today, an Harrisburg lawmakers approved sending a 912 million dollar pandemic relief bill to Governor Tom Wolf.

Wolf has said he will sign the legislation.

More than half of the money will be used to help people struggling to pay rent or utility bills.

About $145 million would be for grants up to $50,000 for bars, restaurants and hotels.

With under 300 employees.

Northampton County has providd an update on vaccinations at Gracedale.

The county run nursing home.

87% of residents have gotten the first dose of the vaccine and 60% are fully vaccinated.

310 employees or about 50% of the county workforce there have received their first dose of the vaccine.

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

Dr Mark Knouse has been with us before.

He's the chief of infectious diseases at LVHN.

Also here is the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Keystone Melissa Reed.

Thank you both so much for joining us today.

Melissa will be with you in just a few minutes.

Let's begin with Dr Canal+.

Thanks again for joining.

If you could start with the caseload today, patient volume.

It looks as though statewide hospitalizations have leveled off in the last four weeks and the number of people in ICU use is also down.

Is that consistent with what we're seeing right here in the Lehigh Valley at this time?

Yes, it is.

It's consistent with our data Lehigh Valley.

We peaked in terms of hospitalizations on or about January since hurry it up to 500 Covid patients admitted through various facilities in our network and a sizable number in the intensive care units.

The good news, of course, with the second wave is that there are much less of a proportion of patients headed to the ICU than in the first wave or half were down quite a bit from peak in January 5.

Sure.

Let's talk about the allotments that come with those vaccine.

What you're getting and then what you're prepared to give at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Do they match up?

Are you getting as many doses as you could actually give on any given day?

Lehigh Valley Hospital Gelbspan Network is very efficient.

Vaccine ministration, as you may know and I think we could give lots more vaccine if we have lots more vaccine.

And part of the issue recently is there is a lot more sites approved for administration throughout the state of Pennsylvania.

Yet the supply has not increased proportional to that.

So we're using what we have.

We've scheduled our inventory out.

So we're almost at 60,000 vaccinations given to date.

So we're very happy with that.

We can certainly do more.

Sure.

Dr Canalso, a lot of attention this week has been focussed on vaccine delivery and frankly, the frustration people have had in trying to get an appointment now during a PBS39 community conversation we had last night.

I asked the director of public health at Muhlenberg College, Chris and Cronan, about% Pennsylvania system.

Let's take a listen to what she has to say.

It seems like on a network level, Lehigh Valley is doing a great job at rolling these vaccines.

But when it comes to the state level, many reports coming out.

Pennsylvania's falling short when comes to distributing those vaccines.

Do you think that centralized way of distributing the vaccines the way Pennsylvania should maybe switch gears and go Gamma Well, I mean, I think that having seen the success that states like West Virginia and Ohio and others states have and get rolling that vaccine out quickly and getting it in arms certainly suggests that centralize a centraized approach is more effective and certainly probably less frustrating for the residents of that state.

It seems like on a network level the Lehigh Valley is doing now.

That same issue was also raised today during Department of Health briefing and Harrisburg.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed PA as 40 second of 50 states in doses administered per 100 thousand people.

Let's hear that right now.

Again, I think the underlying message is for folks to patient.

We are working to make our systems more accessible, to make information and education more accessible to the public.

But as we do that, we ask for folks to stay patient.

Again, we would deal with the same issues without a system which is the limited supply of vaccine.

Again, I think a doctor is someone who is just dealing is on the ground level.

Like you just said, you're prepared to give more vaccines.

You just don't have them.

What will it take to solve these problems?

Is it simply a matter of just getting more vaccine Gamma Yeah, I think, you know, our network is essentially is that issue exactly the.

The good news is we'll have another vaccine hopefully under emergency use authorization and maybe in one or two weeks.

That's a Johnson and Johnson vaccine which just probably got submitted to the FDA.

So we have the capability.

We have, you know, mass vaccination campaigns.

Gorney, more schedule.

We have you capability to do internally at multiple sites 3000 a day.

So it's sad to hear that.

Pennsylvania as a whole is not doing well recently.

But I think some areas some that work, some institutions are able to do the efficiency much better than that.

So I think it's a regional variation perhaps.

Sure.

Lawmakers gave the acting health secretary an earful this week.

Now she suggested future allocations to providers may depend on efficiency.

Is this something that you support as well?

Of course.

I think that would be good for Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Certainly.

I think that makes some sense.

The goal here is to get the shots in the arm.

I think it's we call it the final mile and you nationally there was a problem early on and that's final mile where the gap between supply and distribute was why?

narrowed a bit as the distribution and the final mile improve.

However, I think, you know, it's incumbent upon the egional facilities to become as efficient possible and get those shots in as soon as they get that supply and can schedule doctor canals overall.

Can you give us an overview of what the coronavirus situation looks like right now in the Lehigh Valley at Lehigh Valley Health Network Gamma Yeah, overall I'd say it's better than ended December or early January.

We had two spikes in the second wave seemingly related to Thanksgiving and winter holidays.

So I've looked at the curves very frequently in terms of our hospitalizations, in terms of our test positivity and fortunately they're both going down parallel.

So there's a nice down.

So since January 5 and we're hopeful that continues to occur.

Sure.

Seems like the right time to mention Super Bowl.

We've been talking about it all week.

If you have a cautionary warning for folks about Super Bowl, could you please share it now Gamma No parties.

It's with your family.

If you have to do a virtual party with others, do it virtual.

But we're in that part.

As I said, we're those that curve is going downwards and we don't want to see that curve go right back up.

Much like it did after Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It's you know, we don't have herd immunity yet.

So we can't get too complacent.

Sure.

Dr Canalso, we have some questions from our audience.

Beth from Reading is asking, is it best to wait to get the vaccine until there is a vaccine that covers all of the various.

It's a great question, but I would say no to that because I don't think there may be a vaccine that covers all the various.

The good news is, as far as we know right now, the vaccines cover the variance.

We are exposed to there's some concern about the South African variant, but having multiple vaccines will likely be crucial in the final summary of how we roll things out.

So waiting could be dangerous because the risk of waiting increases your odds.

Getting disease and possibly getting hospitalized pretty sick.

Sure, Sure.

Wendy in New Jersey says that she lives in New Jersey.

Can she come over and then get a vaccine and PA if she needs to Gamma I believe Lehigh Valley Hospital will take patients from a lot of the patients in our network live in New Jersey.

As far as I know, they can enroll in my LVHN, which is our primary access for patient care.

And once patients get enrolled in that program, they can then, you know, they are pre-registered for vaccination.

I'm not aware of any restriction on how the state though the do a little more research on that to be certain.

Sure.

We have a couple questions about the different vaccines that are outright now our viewers are asking is there one that's better than the other?

And in the same breath, is there one that they can request?

Can they come in and request a specific vaccine?

Very common question.

So Thibeault.

So is any vaccine better than another?

The answer is any shot that gets your arm is the best vaccine supply is very limited.

And right now it's important to know people get maybe hung up on these numbers of say 95 96 JNJ at 70 or 66%.

The reality is they're all all very effective at presenting preventing hospitalization and death due to Covid-19.

And that's really what we care about.

And many of them may turn out to be effective against reducing viral carige and transmission to your second.

Can you request at least as of now we can't we sign up for a slot.

You get what vaccine is available based on supply and as I said, any vaccine in the Sure, that same caller is asking your thoughts on the JNJ vaccine when you think we'll see it right here in our area.

Well, again, good question.

I alluded to the fact that they likely just made their submission to the FDA.

I don't know for sure when they'll make a ruling.

This would be another E UA emergency use authorization.

And I assume maybe by the end of February or early March at the latest, that would come through.

And of course, that's a single shot.

At least that's where they're hoping to get through the FDA right now.

Sure.

Dr Mark Knouse, we're seeing video right now of the mass vaccination site that LVHN held at Dorney Park.

Is there any plans to have any other mass vaccination events in the upcoming few weeks?

Yes, I believe so.

I don't have dates for you today.

But as soon as the supply and inventory are there, they will be scheduling more.

Dawnie?

We did I think over a thousand.

The first one that was dry run went flawlessly.

They could have done many hundreds more during that drive through.

As you know, for some of the flu campaigns, we've done thousands in a weekend.

So it's limited in volume based on the time you have the weight.

It's 15 minutes after the shot.

So that puts a little bit of a crimp on the total number.

But yes, we're going to have more to hear.

Good to hear.

We have another caller question.

This is from Helen and she's asking How long does the coronavirus last?

When do I know when I'm done my quarantine Gamma good question.

It hasn't changed recently.

So early on in actually in the spring way, we learned that probably after 10 days or more after your symptom onset, you're not contagious even though you can test positive on these PCR for a long time.

Cultures show that there is no cultural virus after 10.

So we have a rule of thumb that 10 days after symptom onset, as long as you haven't had a fever and are only good in the last 24 hours, you're can come out of quarantine now.

There there's some change in that.

If you're an immune compromised host or had severe disease in the ICU on a ventilator, for example, in terms isolation, duration.

But the general 10 days where the average person, if you will, Covid-19 great chief of infectious diseases at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Dr Mark Knouse, thank you as always.

For joining us 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 them.

Now let's bring in our next guest.

Melissa Reed is president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Keystone.

It provides access to reproductive health care services and has served central and eastern Pennsylvania for nearly 100 years.

Melissa, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you for having me.

I'm happy to be here.

Great.

On a national level, Planned Parenthood recently came out and said it wants to help the Biden Administration fight.

Disinformation about the Covid vaccine.

Now what's the problem and how do we plan to help locally Gamma Well, what we found then there is widespread misunderstanding about the science behind the Covid vaccine, the effectiveness of it and certainly we know that people of color have been mistreated over history by medical science.

And so there's a distrust there.

So what's Planned Parenthood role?

Well, number one, we want to provide good data, good science, reinforce saying information from the Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control guiding our patients and how to stay safe and where they might be able to get tested if they have symptoms or where they can go to get vaccinated.

Sure.

And how are you getting that information out there?

Is it via the internet?

Are you hitting the streets?

How do you get that information out there?

Well, in a number of ways, Brittany.

One is through our website.

We have a whole page on devoted to Covid-19 information for our patients and for the community at large.

We have provided information through our LGBTQ youth groups online when young people have had questions one on one with patients.

We certainly provide a lot of education and then also through our social media properties.

Sure, Melissa.

How have day to day operations for Planned Parenthood Keystone changed through the course of this pandemic?

I understand that your doors have stayed open to patients.

Why is that so important to keep those doors open and have those in-person appointments Gamma We have really been very, very focussed on being there for our patients no matter what.

And making sure that our staff can provide sexual reproductive health care safely and that our patients can receive that care in a safe environment.

So we've done a lot through the wearing of PPE and making sure that we're timing our appointments appropriately and that people are spaced appropriately in our waiting rooms.

And your question in regards to why it's so important sexual and reproductive health can be a very time sensitive.

Care need that someone might have.

And so it's important that they get that care immediately.

So in regards to providing we have done that through inperson appointments when it's safe to do so and when the patient is comfortable doing so.

But we've also expanded our availability of care through telemedicine and we now see about 20% of our patient Bucks visits through telemedicine.

We're also sending SETI testing and treatment directly to patients homes now and we even have a mobile app where people can download an app on PPE direct and get birth control delivered right to their home within 48 hours.

And also UGI treatment in 48 hours.

And that really, really helps our patients who don't have access to an in-person visit or aren't feeling safe to make an in-person visit.

Sure.

Of course your staff providing health care needs.

So did they get vaccinated?

Were they on the list to get vaccinated?

That's an excellent question.

So yes, certainly we are in its essential health care provider and our step is eligible for vaccines currently about 30% of our staff have gotten vaccinated, including some through Lehigh Valley Health Network and the Allentown Department of Health.

But we're spread out.

We covered 37 counties.

We have nine medical centers serving that territory.

And so every county is a little bit different.

But I'm so proud of our Planned Parenthood Keystone workforce because they really banded together to source vaccination distribution efforts and share that with one another like new ones popping up here and a new ones popping up there.

And our staff has overwhelming been eager to get vaccinations in as they become available.

Sure, sure, Melissa.

Of course, funding for planned Parenthood has long been in the news over the years.

So I want to ask, how has this pandemic impact Planned Parenthood Keystone financially Gamma Well, quite honestly, Britany, it was pretty devastating in the spring, right?

Our patient visits dropped significantly as the pandemic became bigger vector in our population and more people were better informed about it.

And that's why it was so important for us to pivot to telehealth as quickly as possible.

I'm happy to say now that as of January, our volumes are almost back to where they were pre-pandemic and our patients know that they can get the care that they need safely.

And they are better informed about how to do that as well.

And so that's made a huge impact.

I can also say that many of our counties and foundation funders across the state have really stepped up with emergency funding for health care providers to make sure that health care could be delivered seamlessly.

And we're tremendously grateful for that.

Sure.

Melissa, can you talk about the mission of Planned Parenthood Keystone and some of the services that you provide Gamma Absolutely.

Planned Parenthood Keystone provide sexual and reproductive health care to about 22,000 Pennsylvania residents every year, including 4000 in the Lehigh Valley and that care is birth control.

A wide variety of birth control from long acting contraceptive care like IUD to birth control pills.

We provide SDI testing and treatment.

We provide lifesaving cancer screenings for both cervical and breast cancer and testicular cancer.

We're proud to provide abortion care and many of our medical sites, including through the use of telemedicine.

So that's an important piece of our care, too.

We're also a sexual education provider.

So like I mentioned earlier, the LGBTQ youth groups, we have three of those throughout our territory are now also available online.

So we can provide a lot of sexuality education to make sure that folks have the information they need to stay healthy, to make good decisions, to know how to set boundaries and so forth in their growth.

And so we're really proud of that work to and then unbelievably in 2020, even though the pandemic was such disrupter, we were also able to increase the access to different kinds of care.

So we added prep and prep to our menu of services, prep and pep, our HIV prophylaxis medications and they can help someone.

Help prevent them from getting an HIV infection, which is so important We're also right now working to add gender affirming care for our trans patients or non-binary patients.

So we're really hoping to launch that the in the fall of this year.

So I'm excited about that.

And we also opened a brand new medical center providing state of the art care in the Reading community this year.

So we've really, really been busy in expanding access oftentimes with the younger groups like you were talking about.

Oftentimes they have trouble talking about sexual health.

But you do have a chat text program.

Can you tell us a little bit about that program?

Yes, I'm happy to.

And Planned Parenthood Keystone is one of the first affiliates in the nation to get access to that.

And what that is, is person can go online 24/7 and chat in any question that they have about their sexuality, about sexual health, about the importance of their reproductive care.

And they will have a sexuality educator who is licensed and well-informed, able to provide the medically accurate information right away.

So it's a great service that we have available for the community Sean.

Melissa, what so many schools learning remotely right now, a lot of the students are not receiving the health and sex education that they typically would.

Is Planned Parenthood a resource for that?

Would they be able to go on and find information that they need at a young age?

I'm so glad you asked that.

And the answer is yes.

Not only through our tax program, but we also have a health resource center with a sexuality educator that's able to meet virtually a one on one with young people to provide them information and guidance as they need it and then make appropriate referrals is also an important step.

So whether they need to go see a health care provider or not, that we can provide those referrals and finally, if someone is going to pay a visit to Planned Parenthood with Covid-19 restrictions in mind, what do they need to to remember when they're coming into the office?

What kind of protocols should they follow?

Yes, thank you for asking that.

So we would like our patients, obviously to be mass the whole time.

They're within the medical center.

And fortunately, they will also have to be come by themselves.

And we just don't have the room in our health centers or in our exam rooms to have multiple people.

So we want to make sure that the patients come in on their own and that they are fully mask and they should know also that our staff is also going to be following CDC guidelines and be fully masked as well.

With face shield and gloves and sterilized.

Everything.

Sean Melissa Reed, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Keystone.

Thank you so much for sharing that information today.

Thank you.

And we want to thank our guests for being with us today and of course, you for watching community Update on coronavirus.

We'll be here at 4pm each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on PBS39.

And on the radio at 9:30 those same nights on WLVT News.

We'll be back on Monday, 4:00 to discuss the role of community pharmacy and how they're working to improve vaccine availability.

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

On social media or you can give us a call and leave the message there.

The phone numbers for a for 8 2 1 0 0 0 8 4 PBS39 and WLVT News.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Stay safe.