Hello and welcome to PBS39d Dublin community update on coronavirus.

It's presented by Capital e Cross and brought to you wh help from our community par Lehigh Valley Health Netwo.

We're coming to you live fm the PPE Public Media Centen Bethlehem.

I'm Janice Ortega.

Today we kick off our final week for Community update n coronavirus progress in the fight against Covid-19 is bringing our show to a clo, but there's more we want to cover before our last epise Friday.

Our guests today include an emergency management expert involved in getting vaccins out on the road and with bs scrambling to find new hom, we'll speak with a real ese agent about how the pandemc has affected the housing market.

Our guests will be with usa moment.

If you have a question, yon give us a call.

The number is 404 or eighto one zero zero zero eight wl answer some of your questis live.

Plus for the latest coronas updates, you can sign up fr our newsletter.

Do that at our website coronavirus Lehigh Valley.

Org.

You can find helpful information in English and Spanish.

Now let's take a look at today's top headlines.

Today is the third straighy the state reported fewer tn 500 new coronavirus cases.

Pennsylvania recorded 297 w cases today.

Hospitalization also have n on the decline.

More than 10.8 million vace doses have been given to d, with over 55% of Pennsylvas 18 and older fully vaccina.

The state reported.

35 more deaths through the weekend.

The death toll from Covid-s now 27,300 and 60.

Bethlehem based OraSure has officially entered the Cov9 test market.

The US Food and Drug Administration gave emergey use authorization to an Ore rapid test.

It's called Intel a swab at allows people to test themselves with results in0 minutes, the FDA authorized three versions over the cor a prescription home test aa professional test to be usn health care settings.

And schools.

Here's another side effectf the Covid-19 pandemic.

More kids going to summer school funding in the Covi9 rescue legislation is allog school districts to broaden programing and open summer school to more students thn ever.

The Biden Administration is requiring states to use at least one point to a billin dollars towards summer and enrichment programs.

At least 20% of the windfal must be reserved to address learning loss.

The focus is on students wo have been most affected bye shift away from in-person learning.

And finally, Lehigh Valley Health Network is updatings visitacion policy starting Wednesday, visiting hours l be nine am to eight pm to visitors will be permittedr patient.

The new policy applies to l LVHN Hospital's emergency departments and locations h outpatient care.

No children under 12 are permitted and are still required.

Let's meet our guests.

Ryan, who works with Lehigh Valley Health Network.

He's the director of emergy preparedness.

We're also joined by Charlt Charlotte Seyfried, a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Fod Roache Realtors.

Thank you both for being wh us.

Charlotte will be with youn just a bit.

We're going to begin with .

Hey, Ryan.

Planning for vaccine distribution is one of they things emergency preparedns is involved.

Give us an idea of how this have gone the past few eves and what the picture lookse today.

Certainly.

Thank you for the opportuny to speak on the program.

Vaccine planning guys, grassroots.

The first and last few mons we started a lot of this planning for back in the f. We're anticipating a pretty long period of demand and outpacing it by really havg to have a very unique and Milford vaccination.

And now it's shifted quitet were a lot of the populatin you mentioned.

55% explains that over thee of 18 have gotten both dosf vaccine.

So quite a bit the populatn is Berks County there are l some interest, but interess decline in supplies.

And so we're in a bit of a unique scenario now.

We're entering a different phase of vaccination.

What we're trying to reachs it in populations.

We're trying to work with r street medicine colleaguesr colleagues at work in a vay of different settings to wk with different populationst we can see aren't getting vaccinated or have hesitany and are looking for supporo changed from an environment where we had far more demad than we had supply of vacce to an environment.

Now we have three different vaccines available nationwe supply is much better thant was really kind of a news conference Newsmax requirer us to come together as a community, try not Ryan, nt certain boosters on a boosr will be needed.

How is planning for that?

So a couple different scens are very similar to what wd back in the fall.

We're looking at different potential scenarios and different potential modelsr distribution.

I think ideally it would be great if it was like the fu vaccine would be widely available, available enougr providers to be able to off setting and mass vaccinatin setting like we Luzerne thu shot there.

And that's Hulmeville Covir like we've done in some mas fixed locations where we he one set up for vaccination that's on that site, Weath.

That's I think we're underg a number of different plang scenarios.

Try to prepare for whatevee Silverdale looks like and t the BioNTech looks like now they're still investigatind still doing trials that boosters and Hunterdon hasn under way right now the Pfr forward as well.

So really it's take us a le bit time to figure out what that picture looks like, vy similar to the initial vaccination phase.

We start out in August, September of last year wita little bit of information m the planning around that.

And now as get more information, Woosters, as e information becomes availa, Chalfont support some moreh and we'll be able to have e more laser focused plans oe you get some more informat.

And once we find out what e booster timeline looks lik, will there be clinics at Dy Park or Pocono with the bor certain that is something r consideration?

I definitely work very wele first time I think the keys really trying to identify t works best and we really recognize that based on ths past year, the past six mos or so demand certainly the supply and those scenarios, large scale mass vaccinatin Bucks made the most sense, especially with the cadenct which we were getting vacce re-supply Penn State yellow phase came to us and allows to do that in a very effece manner.

I think looking at Boosters and the future, it's really going to depend on what the community wants.

But the best way to vaccine is as what the cadence ande supply and resupply vaccins are.

So definitely planning for multiple scenarios.

Some of the scenarios have never been as planned.

Others executed just basedn demand and based on the scenario as it plays out, u oversee the vaccination te.

What does that unit doing ?

So right now we're really trying to focus on schoolsd businesses that are having issues with access.

Initially the unit was reay focused a lot on start skid nursing facilities, areas e a high concentration of fos that met that initial phasf criteria.

And as the months went on d the spring kind of transit, we started to see different demand of vaccine and the mobile units split into communities.

I went to community center, went to places that patiens felt comfortable getting vaccinated and to really to bring the vaccine to the ad now we're focusing on schos or focusing on some busines that have workers who may t be able to get vaccinated previously.

So we're really trying to s in on those areas that reay have the most the schools obviously being the most rt Pfizer's recent expansion s crowd.

So we definitely some workn schools and working with se of our other partners.

That's not the case.

That's where those John Bon focus.

I think the future of them really depends on where the demand is.

We're looking at doing a nr of facts and working on communications with partnes such as Little Apple Grocey store or places or grocery stores that don't have affiliation with the pharms that potentially are an ara that folks can walk to.

The folks that can walk ind get a vaccination.

So we're trying to really k at where the community is d where the community is vaccinated is what that han cities around that communi.

And how we can best partner with them not only by bring the vaccine to them, by educating them, by answerig their questions, by having folks who speak their lang, speak to them directly and really try to break down as many there as possible.

Now, do you happen to havey idea how many people have n vaccinated because of the mobile unit?

So we are approaching our n thousand dose people around 9500 or so doses.

So obviously taken Tullyton some of those first devices that have got the second gt but ten thousand four very happy that the units have n very successful.

I think for the mobile vace is really about the followg has started as a network I think for around 380,000 ds given the multiple vaccine.

This is really a small par.

But the key is that it's getting to the communitiest are having access problems, getting into the communitis that really would not othee have been able to get vaccinated.

So that's really where they is there.

And we're definitely proudf the ten thousand professor looking forward to hopefula couple of weeks from now.

We'll look at that.

What about for homebound people?

Are you going house to houe for them too?

So the mobile vaccine progm isn't necessarily doing th.

We're standing those kind f clinics and clinics in reay focusing on community based clinics that are kind of me than one person.

What we do have is a team f health professionals workig with a lot of our physicias well as some others that wk in medicine hospice.

vaccine to the patients the treat at home to begin wit.

And these folks that are vy used to working in homeboud scenarios.

And what we found is that y have many times that caregivers, the folks thate by their side 24/7, especiy in palliative care.

So we're working with those teams to try to address ant vaccine to those folks as l as their caregivers.

And I think we're also developing plans right nowr folks that might not get routine care for us but are still homebound to access.

We don't have that process outlined yet.

We're doing some testing rt now, so we don't have a grt announcement here right now related to that.

We are working on it.

We are working especially h our patients that we have a little bit more access to.

You touched upon this earl, but let's elaborate more on LVHN plan for vaccinating children.

What's the plan there?

Will you be going school to school?

Will there be clinics in te summer or in the fall?

What does that look like?

So I think it really is bad on demand.

We have done quite a few sl based clinics.

We have quite a few that ae also scheduled.

Well, we recognize that wee coming to the end of the sl year that kids are dispersg vacation that might not bes available as they are durig the school year, recognizig that the multiple methods available for vaccinationst Luzerne walk in clinics.

We have North Whitehall.

We have one in Palmerton or stand clinics for the sole purpose of vaccination.

OSPI market vaccinated.

We do have possible based clinics and Schuylkill ares well as the Pocono area and Hazle Township.

However, these folks like s away on the number of chiln already.

We definitely uptick after Pfizer release and the FDA approval for that 12 plus Crowdie and we certainly fs coming in at high numbers d demand for for period of te as those children vaccinat.

So certainly a multi tiered approach.

I think eventually the goal would be to have it availae for opposite's as vaccine supplies available at normalized.

But right now that are available the next fix site locations as well as some select schools that we've n partnering with to get a sl based site and really is bd solely on demand.

The school has the mandater their students.

They call their parents and able to set up a clinic the where it's a little bit clr to home for them.

We're able to be done withe after school days as we approach summer.

Certainly going to shift tt dynamic a little bit, but I think would be something te ready for.

The fall of demand exists.

Ryan, have started conversations yet as to wht the mobile vaccination unit will do once most have recd vaccine?

Certainly that's a great question and it's something that we've certainly been discussing.

I think the key is really looking at what the is and there's always a communityr access to good medical car, into partnering as an organization, partnering te provider so possible.

And so I think looking at t that demand is, the need exists.

We don't want to put the pl the trigger as a shooting s because we don't know whate booster situation looks li.

We don't know if that's something that we might neo reactivate for.

So I think is certainly gog to be a very thoughtful prs and something that we're sl considering still talking through, especially as we k through different scenarios related to the health netw.

I imagine is much better prepared now to handle something like a pandemic.

Do you think most people ae now too?

I think the mindset it's definitely changed.

This has certainly been a , year and a half that no ons going to forget that lived through it.

And I think one of the important things to recogne is just the resiliency of e health care workers as wels the resiliency of the backt it because of the special events Manteuffel full capy this summer.

I think people are very exd about that, but I think its going to be the back of his mind always going that boxf masks probably somewhere ad hopefully 50 years down the road dealing with a pandemc are still somewhere on the shelf.

Our grandkids and our chiln are going to look back on .

Why are they there at this generation?

I think it's certainly unfortunately has lived thh this experience.

I think that's kind of chad mindsets.

I'm going to hope it just drives folks to be more prepared in general.

For pandemics but for natul disasters.

Hazardous weather events in Pennsylvania between hurricanes, in between a snowstorm.

We certainly have Milford.

So I think it's about Orefd community preparedness and hoping that folks can takea moment to recognize that it might not just be something else Donald Trump to be prepared for not only personally, professionallys they say, hindsight is 202.

So looking back, how coulde have been better prepared o face what came in 2020 and1 another question.

I think one of the keys and early on was gorgeous supp.

We stockpiled.

I think that we're stockpig more.

I think health care facilis across the state are doinge same and not as hospitals t long term care facilities, nursing assisted care facilities, all these difft areas for folks get care, t just an acute care hospita.

I all of them collectively together certainly have stockpiling more, building preparedness into their day activities.

What was once all think tht was just required Secretarf Labor is now something that folks are trying to put ino daily kind of use and realy trying to make sure that we in a much better position.

And I think from a PPE stog perspective, this is sometg we did early on.

We had additional personal protective equipment goingo the pandemic, unfortunatel, and that wasn't enough bece of the length of the pandec as well as the surge that e saw.

I think really getting a lf the supply chain resiliency intact is something that hh care cost Emmaus, Frenchto.

Now, you mentioned the resiliency of health care workers earlier.

It's not an easy job to stt with.

So how have you all suppord each other during this tim?

We have early on our Port Clinton have management tes around our staff and the al there was not necessary top patients around the staff t and that was that product r stress that we got first sg and then again this past wr when we had a much more substantial Covid patients really felt stress and that team really stood up and ws very helpful.

And I think a lot of it rey is pure communication withn our professions medicine, nursing, pharmacy, respiray care, all these folks comig together and working for a. I think that stress is certainly something that is difficult to manage and I k working with your colleagut having a good environment h her colleagues, what's important to try and stress much as possible and just support each other as muchs possible, recognize someonn the team might be experieng a little more stress, mighe having a bad day and tryino support them through it.

It's been kind of profoundr for me looking back and seg that while the Covid searct didn't stop patients or patients Tim Murtaugh comig from an emergency housing background myself.

The ER is always open.

There's always people comig through the door.

So you always have to be prepared for that next patt and to provide them with te same level of care of the patients before had to keep pushing on.

So I think that resiliencys really something that's but into the providers that wey on each other to be able te stress and to understand scenarios that we're in ane were prepared to deal with comes back coming with the summer months, which are typically Lansford, we see higher instances of trauma patients or especially fols getting out and doing a lot more and more people on the road.

You start to see different different sort of pattern.

So while it may not Covid d still very well maybe busyh other patients and folks experience out of medical emergencies.

Ryan, hey, thank you for everything that you do and thank you for taking this e to speak with us today.

Oh, thank you.

Much appreciated.

We continue this community update on coronavirus PBS3.

You can hear the rebroadcan the radio tonight at nine n 91 three WLVT.

Now let's bring on our next guest.

Charlotte Seyfried is an at with Berkshire Hathaway Hoe Services, Fox and Roach Realtors in the Macungie a.

The past few months have bn busy ones in the real estae market, demand is high inventory isn't and homes t go up for sale aren't on te market.

For long.

Charlotte, thanks again for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

Lehigh Valley housing markt has been strong for several years, but what's different about it now at this time?

Well, it's moving so quicky right now.

Houses are selling in 24 hs and it's hard to keep.

Sometimes it's so hot.

It's like working to the sa year ago, the average home price in the Allentown meto area was $225,000.

It's $270,000.

Now what are some of the factors for this hot marke?

Well, whenever real estates closed for a time period, l of those buyers were in wat and the sellers were also waiting.

And when everything reopen, it was like the floodgates opened and there was little inventory and we still have that issue with supply and demand and it created what we're seeing now, which is explosive market things are selling so quickly, there'o many factors involved.

But I think a big part of t had to do with the closingd everything's slowing down.

New homes are being built s often because prices are so much higher for all the materials and now we're dog the best we can to keep uph it and to help our clientst through this period of tim.

Where we are growing as a community very rapidly.

I've heard stories of placs selling once they hit the market in a day.

Is that happening?

And can you give us an idef how long houses are stayinn the market these days?

Houses so very quickly.

Most of the time when peopo put them up and allow show, they're gone within a weeks long as they are price competitive and people are buying them, they're buying them sight unseen.

Sometimes they don't even t to Shillington time.

They're going within 24 hos for cash with no inspectio.

And sometimes people are pg above appraisal prices as .

They're also using differet strategies such as paying taxes.

There are all sorts of different strategies in ply right now.

It's one of the reasons tht you need someone like us to help you sort of come up wh the better strategies to me your offers more competitie because it is such a fast moving market.

Are you seeing people moveo the Lehigh Valley from the outside or from within the Lehigh Valley?

What makes this region so attractive to buyers?

Well, it's a beautiful plao live.

But for people moving out , for instance, New York Cit, they are moving because thy can now telecommute, they n work from home.

So they're looking for that extra office.

They're looking for the yar lower taxes that we have available here.

And that's what they're finding.

And they're also finding competitive home prices compared to their market.

So they come and I've seena lot of that as well as the relocation.

It was already existing ine Valley before or all of ths began.

It's always been a great pe for relocation.

There's also warehouses cog up.

So all of those places are going to have to be filledh employees and all of them e going to be moving here.

If I'm a buyer, what are se tips that you can give me t might put me at that advan?

What are some dos and don'n this market?

I would say for me the firt thing I do is communicate h the selling agent and findt what that seller wants.

So sometimes something as simple as a date or maybe y prefer a local mortgage compared to when you see online, those things can ry help put your offer just or the edge.

But beyond that, you can ao offer to do above appraisar you can also offer to pay e of the excise taxes.

There are lots of different strategies play now.

Let's talk bidding wars.

What are some of the things that buyers have done to sd out to encourage sellers to take their bid?

Well, there's lots of difft things available.

Some people, although I ner recommend it, are not going with inspections and that certainly makes an offer me attractive for the seller because it's easier for tho deal with some people are trying to rush closings.

There's all sorts of diffet avenues at your disposal, although all of them are ry for a buyer.

However, that's sort of oub as realtors is to help adve them to stay within their comfort zone and not to go outside that comfort zone.

I want to get into the sels for a bit.

We actually have a viewer question.

You know, someone wants tow do you sell now or do you t it out after you sell your home?

Well, if you want to sell w now is an amazing time to l your house.

You just have to make sureu have somewhere to go becaue finding a place, even the rental market's really, rey fast moving and hot right .

So so why is inventory so w right now?

I mean, do you anticipate that's going to change once Covid restrictions are lifd completely?

To really great question.

I think people like living here.

I don't see that many peope putting their houses on the market unless they're movi.

I've seen a lot of people putting their houses on the market, moving into new bu, but staying in the valley,I think most of the time thes so much going on here.

For instance, even if a jon this area doesn't work out, there's so many other placs within the valley that youn work that are going to offr you great opportunities tht most people don't leave.

I'm hoping that new construction will pick up d that will help pick up somf the population needs that r valley is going to continuo have as we move forward thh the growing pains of everything, reopening and through the growing pains f the valley itself.

Who are the sellers?

Can you share with us any demographic picks?

Are you seeing more senior citizens selling their hom?

It runs the gamut.

I think everybody some peoe who are selling their homee moving closer to family, especially now after the pandemic.

I think a lot of people hae that in their and their hed and I get it as far as evee else goes, it's just people moving for jobs and other opportunities.

What about new construction with lumber costs going up?

Are you seeing many people still buying new constructn and what does that look li?

There's not much of it available.

Lumber prices are four tims what they were before coronavirus and that's notn to mention all of the other materials that are delayed because when things were closed, they all got back ordered and most of them continued to take an order.

So they're all really behi.

And all of the new builds t are happening right now are delayed as well as far as e new builds go, I do hope tt at some point once possible manufacturing catches up wh the need, then possibly prs will lower and we will see hopefully some more new construction at that time.

It can be a discouraging te for buyers right now.

So what advice do you haver those people who might find themselves discouraged wite process?

I would try not to be discouraged.

Just remember that a realtr can help you through this process.

And although it is a selles market, I like to view it t like when home, I like to w a lot like dating.

Some people are really lucy and the first house they se they fall in love with it d everything works out.

But for most people you hao look at lots of different houses and eventually you o find exactly what you need because you are the persont makes that house at home ad you fill it up with beauti, perfect memories throughoue years.

Just try not to give up any to be patient and utilize e resource of realtors.

We're here to help you.

It's our job.

We only have a little bit f time left, Charlotte, but l end with this.

What do mortgage rates look like these days?

They were they have been an all-time low, a historic l. Things are going up slighty but not enough to offset ay sales.

And it's also a benefit foy of the buyers who do have o increase their sales pricer their offer prices becauses help pay for some of the is that those calls.

Thank you, Charlotte, for sharing your insight on the real estate market with us today.

Thank you so much for havig me.

We want to thank our guestr being with us today and we thank you for joining us fr Community Update on Coronavirus.

We have two more shows to .

We'll be back Wednesday atr to catch up with the Covid9 Long hauler.

We first met back in Decem.

If you have a question, yon leave it at our website, P. Org on social media or givs a call and leave it there.

The number is four four eit two one zero zero zero eigt four PBS39 and WLVT Arnoux.

I'm Gen. Ortega.

Thanks for watching.