Hello and welcome to PBS39 in WLVT community update on coronavirus presented by Capital Blue Cross and brought to you with help from our community partner Lehigh Valley Health Network.

We are live on this St Patrick's Day from the PPE Public Media Center in Bethlehem I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Our guests today include an infectious disease doctor on location at the Mass vaccination clinic at Dorney Park.

We'll also be checking in on St Patty's Day business on Main Street in Bethlehem.

Our guests will be with us in just a few moments.

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

The phone number is for a for 8 2 1 0 0 0 8.

We'll answer some of your questions live.

Plus, your 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 in both English and Spanish.

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

For the first time in months, fewer than one third of Pennsylvania's counties are seeing substantial spread of the coronavirus.

21 counties remain in the high transmission category.

Lehigh and Northampton counties are still in that group.

As our Berks and Monroe counties.

But some of the state's most populated counties, including Allegheny and Montgomery, are classified as having only moderate spread of Covid-19 businesses in the Lehigh Valley's hospitality industry are eligible for new relief grants through Northampton and Lehigh counties.

Grants of up to 10 thousand dollars each are being awarded from seven and a half million dollars in relief funding.

The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley is administering the program.

Priority will go the applicants that have not received a previous loan or grant or were first forced to close under Governor Tom Wolf's disaster declaration.

The two counties hope to help up to 800 businesses and we'll check in in just a moment.

At a mass clinic at Dorney Park.

But LVHN is organizing a separate vaccination clinic this weekend at Pocono Raceway in Monroe County.

It's the first one being set up there for the Covid-19 vaccine.

And 3000 first doses will be given.

It's happening Saturday at the speedway in Longpont, LVHN started booking appointments yesterday and filled all 3000 in a matter of a few hours.

Let's meet our guests for the day.

Dr Alex Benjamin of LVHN has been with us before today.

He joins us from Dorney Park where 4000 people are being vaccinated.

Also with us is Neville Gardner, owner of Donegal Square and McCarthys Red Stag Pub in Bethlehem.

Thank you both so much for joining.

Neville, thanks so much for being here on St Patrick's Day.

A very busy day for you.

I'm sure we'll be back with you in just a few minutes.

We're going to begin with Dr Benjamin at Dorney Park where the latest mass drive thru clinic is just wrapping up.

Dr Benjamin, it's great to have you back on the show.

Thanks so much for having us.

Well, folks have been receiving their first dose of the Moderna vaccine by appointment only Dr Benjamin, give us an idea of how things are going out there today.

You know, Hawk.

We're just finishing up the last of our appointments here.

We've given out 4000 doses of vaccine today and I think that's a great sign.

This week we received 21,500 doses of vaccine, which is a far cry from, you know, a good, good cry, I guess up from what we where we've been before.

So we're really excited about this.

We've been ready for weeks and months to give a large dose of vaccine to our community.

And I think this is sort of the first step.

Onward and upward for us that is so promised to here.

Like you said, 4000 people getting vaccinations today and those 4000 appointments, from what I'm told, were filled up in a matter of about 90 minutes when they opened up on Monday.

What does that tell us about supply and demand for these vaccines?

Well, I think the demand has always been high.

Every time we've made vaccine available, just like you said, they disappear very quickly.

If you look at the social media news, you know, word of mouth, friends and family of our colleagues, people have been trying to find any way they can to get vaccine.

They're signing up at the retail pharmacies.

They're signed up with my LVHN here.

They're looking in different cities.

They're looking in different counties.

Some people are looking in different states as well.

So we know the demand is there.

I think this is the first time that we've seen the ability state to try to deliver on their promise, providing more vaccine to some of are more efficient providers.

That includes, you know, our health care networks throughout the region, throughout the state.

And we're happy to help stand that promise.

Dr Benjamin, I've heard from people in the Philly suburbs and other people, different parts of the state saying they could only get appointments here in the Lehigh Valley.

What does that say about your efforts like these mass clinics Gamma I think, you know, Dorney Park, as you know, has been the site of many influenza vaccine campaigns before.

The tents have been for several months now.

It's very visible from the highway, from the Interstate.

So people know that things are going on here.

They've seen the footage of us doing those first thousand doses here at.

So as it becomes available And so we're happy to do it.

I think as word gets out that they understand the convenience of being able to stay in their car in all types of weather, you know, bring themselves under a tent where they get their vaccine and they're observe as the EU requirements 15 minutes afterwards.

And that whole process, as we know, doesn't take any more than 30 minutes.

So very say socially just in some people I say family members.

And so I think it's win win for everybody.

It sounds like it's a really busy out there today.

Now, when it comes to getting people scheduled in general, vaccinating people has been a huge undertaking.

The state is now saying providers should have all of phase 1, a scheduled by the end of the month.

Is that doable?

Is that possible?

Can we make their I'll tell you, I'm not sure.

I don't the answer is I don't know.

But I think the more vaccine we provide to places like the Lehigh Valley Health Network that are very efficient, we will do everything in our power to get that vaccine out to people we know.

But as I said, we know the demand is there and if we can be a part of that to help vaccinate large larger populations, we're happy to do it.

Dr Benjamin LVHN announced another clinic that's happening this Saturday at the Pocono Raceway in Monroe County.

Of course, 3000 people scheduled to be vaccinated there.

What does that tell us about the allotment?

Do you think that allotment is just going to keep coming and is that clinic going to run?

Very similar to how Dorney Park is being ran currently.

Yeah.

So we're using the same principles, lessons learned from Dorney Park and we're going transfer that to Monroe County at the Pocono Raceway.

I think it's a it's an excellent site for us to bring vaccine to what we call our northern campuses and we know that Monroe County per capita has had fewer residents vaccinated than say like Lehigh County and Northampton County.

So we know there's a need there.

Again, we know there's demand because we know in our hospital campuses vaccines go very quickly.

And so I think this is a great way for people north of Allentown to get access to this vaccine.

It's such a good thing to see the vaccine starting to flow a little bit more smooth than it did in in the previous months.

Now, what I want to ask about is the numbers, what are the case counts look like right now with the coronavirus?

As I said in the headlines, some parts of the state are seeing still seeing substantial spread.

Some of the counties here in the High Valley, but some of the other ones who had widespread coronavirus cases are now seeing a minimal number.

So what we're seeing here in Lehigh Valley amid case counts.

So this is a number we don't watching very closely for several weeks.

We're certainly encouraged by the fact that since January, the case numbers per 100,000 residents have slowly been trickling down.

But I think that by what gained my attention was that in March that curve is essentially flat now and my flat.

I mean, not at normal levels or low transmission levels.

There is still considered very high risk.

So knowing the Kerbis flattened, I think my concern is the only other place that can go is we know test positivity rates in the in our catchment area are pretty steady as well.

So something is happening in the community.

My guess is that there's probably low level, not low level transmission, but there are ongoing basis.

And so while I know our community is super happy to see cases go down.

People getting vaccinated.

I think my concern is that there's still going to be ongoing transmission and the more that we relax guidelines and recommendations about people gathering together that this could could spell trouble, I'd be very glad to be wrong about that.

But I have to think from a health care standpoint, from a hospital capacity standpoint, that we have to be prepared.

Sure.

I want to get back to that in just a moment.

But we do have a caller question.

This is Bernadette from Quakertown and she's asking, can you get any of the three vaccine if you have a positive blood type Gamma Yes, your blood type is not going to determine what kind of vaccine you can get.

As we've been telling people, you know, really the best type of vaccine to get is the one that's first available to you.

Clearly, if you're not in the education workforce, your best chances are gonna be Pfizer and maternal.

And so we have obviously the nice thing about that is we have a good track with handing those out over the past couple months.

Sure.

Dr Benjamin, like I said, I want to get back to transmission.

Do you think we need to be hesitant on declaring victory too soon?

There's a lot of optimism right now.

I know that people are just itching to get out.

I know you say pump the brakes.

What should we really be mindful about right now?

I agree with I think it's way too soon to say that anything is right.

You know, we're claiming victory at this time.

And in fact, I would actually force people to actually think the other way, continue wearing your mask.

It's the one thing that's going to protect you.

If I can keep my mask on, continue wearing mask, vaccine, vaccinate or not or not, I think you still have to be very, very cautious at this point.

It may be that some other places in the United States have decided that, you know, they're going to relax, recommendation.

And certainly everyone still has the personal option to continue wearing a mask in those cases.

And I would support sort urge our community to keep up with that.

Sure.

Some public health officials have come out and said that three feet, social distance is enough in schools.

Have you heard that?

And what are your thoughts on that?

I have seen some of the data.

I am still a little cautious.

I think we've made good recommendations to people that 60 is probably the most consistent way to ensure that we have social distancing that's appropriate.

We know that's time tested and trialed in our communities, in our workplace.

I'm sure there are some benefits to being able to reduce that to three feet and I'd be certainly glad to see that be tested and true right now.

I think especially in light of the fact that case numbers are flat maybe going up, this may not be the time to try.

Dr Benjamin, we have another caller question this is from Michelle in Bangor.

And she says that she got the first dose, but should there be any concern about her health and the condition of her health down the road?

How does she know that she made the right decision Gamma I think the answer is in whether you've got exposed or Covid or developed disease.

I think the best answer about getting vaccine is that nothing happens.

I'd be certainly glad about that.

I'd be, you know, encouraged by the fact that you are in a community of people who are concerned enough to take on the unknown.

You know, mostly benefits, but some risks of getting vaccinated at a time that would benefit your family, your loved ones, co-workers and the community.

Dr Benjamin, before we let you go today, I wanted to ask about vaccines and children.

We're seeing trials are going to begin on teens and babies.

Do you think that these vaccines will be available by the school year next school year this fall for kids when they're returning to class Gamma I certainly think that's a possibility.

We know that Pfizer already started conducting trials, conducting trials, but enrolling younger individuals.

And this is sort of the classic response to having good results in the adult population.

We move on to some of our other populations like children, certainly.

I believe this is going to follow the same guidelines for emergency use authorization that if we have enough children enrolled in the trials and that we have two months of efficacy and safety data that the FDA will certainly entertain the idea of granting emergency use authorization.

But it all lies in the details.

It's also going to be affected by how much we're into bias is in the community.

Remember when the adult vaccines were being tested, we had high numbers of Covid in the community.

So it's much easier to enroll people achieve the number of people who become infected to see if the efficacy numbers stand up, if the number of cases dropped.

It may take longer to get people to those endpoints, but certainly, you know, the school year is still several months old and forth.

Unfortunately, in some sense, if we do happen to have more cases than one.

One of the upsides of that will be able to enroll enough people and test the efficacy of these vaccines in children.

In the era of Covid, those couple of months between now and the fall just seem like a lifetime.

Dr Alex Benjamin, chief of infection control officer of LV at LVHN, joining us today from Dorney Park, the Mask Clinic.

Thank you so much for all of that great information.

Absolutely.

Thanks so much.

All right.

We continue this community update on coronavirus PBS39.

You can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tonight at 9:30 on 90 13 WLVT.

Now let's bring in our next guest.

Neville Gardner knows Bethlehem well.

He's run businesses for years and St Patrick's Day, those businesses are open.

A very good sign.

Of course, that was not the case.

Last year.

Neville, give us an idea of what's happenin today on Main Street.

Well, you know, there's you know, it looks sort well, like a normal day in March.

There's quite a few people around just in Joplin enjoying the atmosphere.

We've had dancers all all kinds of stuff going on.

And of course, a lot people coming in the restaurant down into the retail shops, certainly busy or for us on a normal day would be exactly one year from the day we were shut down March 17th, 2019.

The government said, OK, you're out of business for a while.

And of course, that would be one of our busiest days of the year, especially in McCarthy's pub.

So, you know, our business community has kind of banded together and we've put on a celebration, a weeklong celebration called Bethlehem Gilberton and you know, there's been lots of light music last weekend at this weekend come in.

We've had bands, dancers and pipers and all kinds of things going.

So, you know, the rest of the community are to be taken by some of this as well.

And you know, it's a massive change from last year.

Obviously, but it's still not what I would consider anywhere close to normal.

You know, we've been very careful of social, just insane with 50% capacity in the pub and it's a much different kind temple than what you would have on a normal St Patrick's Day, which is which you know, is good.

I mean, I think right now that's what we need to be doing a wholeheartedly agree with what the doctor had to say.

The last thing we need to do is have another spike here.

And certainly as a proprietor of an Irish pub, you might think I'm a little crazy in the head, but you know, we've stuck it through the whole year.

We've made it this far another two months of being careful until we get into the summer weather.

And I think hopefully that will help us weather this whole this whole thing.

I'm sure I know you mentioned on this day last year was the first day of the shutdown.

Of course, restaurants were closed.

So how did that impact business last year?

What did you have to do?

What were some of the repercussions?

St Patty's Day, one of the biggest days of the year for you.

Well, you know, my big complaint was the way it all happened was that we didn't get a warning.

You know, if I'd known a few days in advance we met, we would walk differently.

But we had literally a ton of potatoes, you know, sitting prepared for all the things that we make them with, you know, and so we had a lot of food on our hands.

My staff came in and, you know, we froze things.

We conserve things.

We gave to the soup for like for a month after some Patrick's Day.

So we became very popular with the homeless community and with shelters and churches.

And we were very happy to be able to give it away.

But our business basically went the toilet.

I mean, we really the first month after closed down last year almost put us out of business.

I mean, it was very, very difficult.

I chose to keep my key staff members on both the retail business and in the pub.

But I mean, it was very, very trying, very stressful.

You know, a lot businesses have gone under.

We were fortunate enough, made it through, you know, our customers were really good.

They did kerbside pick up.

You know, the liquor laws changed a little.

So that allowed us to do TikTok cocktails, which was great.

I we have a recipe from home that we make its own Berks the bar scream.

And we were able, for instance, to sell it in a bottle.

We couldn't have done that before.

Covid so that was the one silver lining to this whole thing.

Lyons us to do the whole digo cocktail thing but we're very thankful for our customers.

The sweet Bethlehem stepped up and certainly you know, they set up Parklea led us to close Walnut Street alongside my granddad.

That didn't really happen until about a month and a half after March 17th, but you know, the federal government, the PPE money, all those things all helped us stay alive without them.

I'm not sure what we'd have done.

So it was very it was the most difficult time.

I've been in business 35 years, Donegal Square, you know, McCarthys Pub have been seven or eight years, but we were tearoom for 12 or 13 years before that.

Undoubtedly this was the most difficult, most trying time of all of it.

You know, I think it forced us to pivot.

You know, we came up with new ideas.

For example, we bottled some of our sources that we make our bread because our sort of bread or brown bread mixes, we've made them available as a mix.

We started doing virtual cooking classes.

My chef Jill Ohman cooking classes and we had tons of people do them virtually.

We did workshops with some of our people from Ireland.

Some of our craft people over there who make jewelry and pottery.

And we did a lot of cultural you a cultural thing is I got to meet today, for example, we had virtual shopper on from California.

They couldn't really be here anyway.

But we've had people from Eastern do virtual shopping.

As you know what, we set up a Zoom call just like this or a face time call or what's that call?

And we, you know, take them around the shop, do personal shopping for them.

We've learned a lot from the technology aspect of this.

And you know, fortunately, advantage of technology to help us get through this.

But I would just as soon not to have had to learn that lesson because, you know, our business was done, you know, 60, 70%, 80% in March last year, April last year, our business was off almost 90%.

So it's a miracle that we're still here.

You know, my staff did their best to get through the whole thing.

We have a wonderful team between McCarthys Pub and Donegal where everybody on their arcel in the right place and with the support of our customers and the other entities we made it through.

So but I had to do it again.

We've just as soon find another solution, you know?

I'm so grateful to the fact that, you know, the technology to put together a vaccine has been there.

I can't believe it was done in one year or so to all the health care workers and everybody who kept us safe.

You know, I'm really grateful.

Absolutely.

And you mentioned the word pivot.

And so many people that we've talked to on the show said the same thing.

We had to learn to pivot.

I think that's a key word right there throughout this entire pandemic.

But now we've made it through you know, we've made it through to this point.

Vaccines are flowing.

It seems like there's sort of their signs of optimism.

They're signs of hope.

Are you feeling that within the business community, some of the other business owners that you've talked to?

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, I think the vaccination rates being, you know, 3000 vaccines one day is incredible.

Although I understand you don't want to get you know, we don't want to get too cocky about this too soon.

We want to hold off as best we can.

But I think the latest and the tunnel, you know, going back to 50%, the state just said we can go to 75% on April 4th.

We can have bar service again.

We'll still require people to wear masks when they're not seated, when they're not dining or drinking.

And you know, we've had some negative feedback that's with somebody last night go off on one of my stops in the restaurant.

How dare you tell me to put mask on when I'm walking around, which is crazy.

We're not going to you know, we're going to hold the rules that we have in place currently and do our best to be very, very, very tight until but definitely there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I mean, we're having our retail business started a really nice recovery.

And you we're feeling like people are comfortale coming with social distancing inside their feel.

I mean, let's face it, you could've gone to Sam's Club or a grocery store anytime during this whole thing, which seems unbelievable to me that you could do that.

You know, so but I think having you know, having faced covering a mask.

I we've done McCarthys tartan mask on my staff wear masks, you know, in the kitchen, even my staff wear masks.

All my staff in the retail shop wear masks.

We're going to stick to it.

But we are optimistic.

And I believe that by, you know, two months from now, by the middle of May, Will.

Well, we'll see that curve this flat and start to go back the other way.

I mean, I hope will happen sooner, you know, the population revaccinated increases the chances of people, even if they are exposed, getting sick has got to obviously decrease.

So it's sort of like a it's sort of like a prophecy starting to come in place and the light is shining brighter every day.

Sure.

Neville, you mentioned that some of the restrictions are going to loosen on April 4th.

Do you think that's enough or would you like to see more restrictions, a kind of be lifted on that date as well?

No, I think it's probably just right.

You know, I think that's something, you know, the doctor said earlier, you know, I mean, I believe in science and of before experts in the medical field are telling to do something.

I mean, personally, I believe that you should do it.

I'm glad that they did it on April 4th.

But I do think we should still follow very strict guidelines until then.

And even then I think we should still wear masks and should still do as much as we can to be safe, at least until we've seen that occur of Gordon further down.

I mean, the worst thing that could would be if it go the other way and we'd have to go back to 25% again or even worse still to be closed.

So you know, it's a grudge for each stair.

So I'm OK with well-thought-of.

Never.

We only have a couple seconds left here.

But of course on this day of celebrating Irish heritage, the Irish are famous for luck and blessings.

Do you have any hope or wisdom to leave us with today?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, I just hope that this time next year we're going to be celebrating full steam.

There'll be no holds barred.

We can have 60p bar again in Ireland right now.

You can't get within five kilometers from your house.

That reason.

So, you know, that's one extreme.

You know, we're in a much better position than that.

So yeah, good luck.

And I hope, you know, in the next months we shake free of this and get back to normal.

Absolutely.

Neville Gardiner, happy St Patrick's Day to you.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Best of luck to you.

Aw, thank you.

And one last thing.

Any of our customers or non-customers would like to be customers.

If you come into the shop and tell the leprechauns made you do it, we'll give you a 25% discount.

Until got the leprechauns made me do it and have all.

Thank you so much.

We want thank you for watching community update on coronavirus here 4 pm each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on PBS39 and on the radio at 9:30 same night on WLVT News for PBS39 and WLVT.

I'm Brittany Sweeney Staci Inez.