Hello and welcome to PBS.

39 in WHO year community ue on coronavirus.

It's presented by Capital e Cross and brought to you wh help from our community partner, Lehigh Valley Heah Network.

We are coming to you live m the People Public Media Cer in Bethlehem.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Our guests today include an infectious disease doctor o has guided us and answeredr questions throughout the pt year.

And with Passover and Holyk upon us, we'll speak with a faith leader about how religious observances are affected by the pandemic.

Our guests will be with usn just a few minutes.

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

The phone number is four et four eight two one zero zeo zero eight.

We'll answer some of your questions live.

Plus four daily coronavirus updates.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

Now, you can do that at our website coronavirus Lehigh Valley Dog.

There you'll find helpful information in both Englisd Spanish.

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

A plea today from e directr of the CDC.

Don't let your guard down.

Dr Rochelle Walensky warnef a potential fourth wave ofe virus and said she's speakg from a, quote, recurring feeling of impending doom.

Her remarks come as cases f the virus have spiked agais several states have loosend restrictions.

The CDC director's concerns come as President Biden ist to address the nation toda.

He's unveiling new measureo get people vaccinated quic.

The president says 90% oUS adults will be eligible foa vaccination and 90% will ha vaccination site within fie miles of their home.

All by April 19.

Biden will announce that te number of pharmacies in the federal pharmacy vaccinatin program willise from 17 thousand to nearly 40 thoud across the country.

Today, Pennsylvania reached another somber milestone, surpassing 25,000 Covid red deaths since the virus was first repted here last Mar.

The rate of deaths, howeve, has fallen by half over the last month to 32 per day.

The state today also repora three day total since Fridf 62 deaths and 10,100 and oe cases.

Vaccine providers have administered nearly 5 milln total doses over 1.7 millin Pennsylvanians are fully vaccinated.

A sobering side effect of e pandemic.

Reports of child abuse have plummeted over the past ye.

And Associated Press, an analyst found children have been out of the public eyed away from the usual reports of welfare problems.

Such as teachers.

The AP found more than 4000 fewer child welfare concers were reported during the pandemic compared with thee time period in 2019, theree 200,000 fewer child abuse d neglect investigations.

It's time now to meet our guests for the day.

Dr Luther Rhodes is an Dr Luther Rhodes is aninfet who has been with us befor.

Also here is Rabbi Melody s of Congregation Binay Shalm and Easten.

Thank you both so much for joining us today.

Rabbi Davis will be with yn just a few minutes.

We're going to begin with r Rhodes today.

Doctor, again, welcome.

Always great to have you.

Likewise.

Thank you, Betty.

Dr Rhodes, we've been seeig this now for several days,n increase in coronavirus cas in Pennsylvania and in our region, even as more and me people are getting vaccina.

Let's start there.

Are you concerned and whato you think is behind these climbing numbers Gamma Wel, first, I think the last sen I use the term we had plats we leveled off and we're me ticking up little bit.

But that's true.

But again, I think perhaps overstated the director ofe CDC has a very difficult, y difficult job.

But I think the statement feelg of impending is an or estimate of where we are.

There are so many good this that have occurred.

We've come so far.

We have to keep that in mis these challenges of finishg the job appear.

There has been increasingly good news about vaccine availability, I think.

And again, so happy to heae breaking news today that we going to get away, if you , move away from age limitats and medical condition limitations as to who is eligible for vaccine, I'm fairly certain we will reah many more people who mightw be considered vaccine hesit when in reality is it they don't have access to vacci.

And so if you basically opp vaccination fornyone 16 yes of age and above, essentiay you may get equitable.

You make it more availablea lot easier to administer ia patient and a scheduling sf don't have to spend a lot f time going over eligibility criteria, they can focus ow can we help you get here tt your vaccine.

Dr Rhodes, is this kind ofa race now?

To get as many people vaccinated as possible befe the summer?

It kind of feels like thatt this point.

Well, we've been I'd say te world population, certainle population in the United Ss have been, if you will, ins in front of a tsunami of Cd and we're not going to be e to outrun it.

The only way we're going to defeat Covid is to have fer and fewer people out in frt of the tsunami of Covid.

And you do that by vaccina.

That's how polio, smallpoxd other conditions were ultimately eradicated or ny eradicated So, yes, there is a race aI don't think it has to do so much with upcoming summer practice.

It is as much, quite frank, outdoor activities are a fr less concern and indoor activities.

But I think the messaging w hato be to get every ouncef vaccine into the arms of or fellow citizens, the resids in our area with no limitas in terms of condition excet for age.

It'll be a few months proby until children under 15 or5 and under will actually be qualified for vaccine.

But I'm sure that's soon to follow.

So I would say take advante of what appears to bour pivot.

An important part of it, t, if it will be matching the criteria so that anyone ag6 and above should have acceo vaccine.

I think that's what I heare president and the governor saying in their plans.

And I agree completely.

It's just it's I think rigt where we should be about ts time.

We're pivoting based on the good information.

This is far from an impendg doom scenario, though.

Dr Rhodes, you mentioned ja minute ago hesitancy when t comes to people who are one fence about the vaccine.

What do you tell them?

What do you say to them?

About why the vaccine makes sense Gamma Well, I find I first asked why they're ore made a decision some timesu hear more than a little hesitancy on its own, but t may be something like I hed on a panel the other evenia an African-American callers talking about not getting vaccine.

Why?

Well, she said on multiple medications and I don't wat anything to interfere withy multiple medications.

Well, that's something that needed to be asked and answered.

So a lot of the hesitancy questions, if you will, ore really uncertainty, concers over fertility and so on, e can be addressed.

They have to be identified first and then addressed ad importantly, the vaccine ho be readily available.

Safe areas, people who need transportation to and frome vaccine site, all the area community outsources Lehigh Valley Health Network is involved in an outreach wih mobile units.

And we need to make availa.

We meet we need to make vae a cool thing to do and a convenient thing to do.

Sure.

Sure.Absolutely convenienty for a lot of those people , like you said, may not have transportation or something like that.

I want to talk a little bit about travel.

A lot of people itching ton a vacation right now, but e CDC is saying it's not thee to travel even if you're dg so within the country.

Why is that?

Why is now not a good timeo travel?

And what are some of the threats that are out therer travelers?

Well, specifically without identifying an individual o patient in consultation fon acute Covid pneumonia, the patient approximately 60 ys of age was interested in vaccine, but he and his wie did not fit criteria.

So they took a chance.

They went to a graduation petfood to from a graduatin a in another state and brot back to Pennsylvania the si of Covidirus that their grandchildren had.

So the two Pennsylvania residents who took a chance took a trip because they couldn't get vaccinated.

Now paying the consequence, they have Covid pneumonia.

Their grandchildren had Cod but weren't very ill.

So I asked the obvious question, you know, why no?

Like why do this as an important family event?

We all have important famiy events, but without vaccint isn't a time to take a cha.

This these newer strains we keep hearing about have in common.

They're easy to catch, very easy to catch.

So we have to again, we're close to the fact of closeo the place where people are going to have access to vae regardless of your medical history or regardless of yr occupation.

That that's what that's ben used in the past to, if u will, limit access with god intention.

But times have moved on ths outlived its usefulness.

We need now to focus on eae ease of administration, but also people who have been through the vaccine proces.

You can help a lot by talkg to others other family mem, neighbors, coworkers, to sy here was my experience andI think you'll find that's vy convincing.

Faith based leadership is critical.

We will hear more about tht shortly.

But I am convinced that isa key way for us to to extena successful immunization.

I want to get back to famiy gatherings, as you just mentioned, but we do have a caller question.

Margaret says that her husd is homebound and she's askg how can he get a shot if hs homebound?

Well, the answer is we shod bring the vaccine to her husband and some of the gat successes that have occurrn very, very rural areas in s country have been successf.

Take the vaccine to their e mobile units that say ♪vist three or four invalid, you know, in a trip I think isy doable because every one of those successes is worth is weight in gold for the patt involved, for the family ut anfor the community.

Wonderful.

Dr Rhodes, thank you for answering that.

As you mentioned, family gatherings, this is a big k for them right now.

Passover is under way and e have Easter this upcoming weekend.

How can people get together celebrate safely Gamma Whas the recommendation as we ae continue into this holiday week?

Well, I think the essentiaf social distancing, which iw three, four, but basically social distancing, continug mask use is important.

But if it's a gathering, ae all know, the guidelines sd if everybody vaccinated, fy vaccinated two weeks after second shot or two weeks ar a single Ginger Zee vaccin, then the smaller groups shd be able to family groups sd be able to enjoy meal, take mask off.

But I wouldn't at this poit with the ongoing number of cases where it's 50 or 60 thousand cases per day in e United States, it's still , too dangerous a time to too anything but really play be rules, mask you can have fy Pgatherings, successful fay gatherings, and respect distance.

And again, watch out for, u know, the idea that, well, nobody's sick.

So it's safe for us to allt together and forget the ma.

That's not the criteria.

The people who are most liy to spread Covid that turnst are people who lack symptos and yet are contagious.

Dr Luther Rhodes from and s always, thank you so much r all of that informtion tod.

While we continue this community update on coronas on PBS.

39, you can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tonight at nine 30 on 91 te Lev Parnas.

Now let's bring in our next guest.

Passover began Saturday nit and for Rabbi Melody Davist normally would call for lae gatherings and family Sedes meals filled with traditiod symbolism.

Rabbi Davis, welcome and hy Passover to you.

Thank you so much, Brittne, and thank you for having m. Absolutely.

These past two celebrations have been differe, so to s, than years past.

So tell us about your congregation and how they'e celebrating Passover this .

We had a little more runnig time this year as opposed o la year.

So knowing that we have a t of people who are singles r elderly and normally go to family and friends and we'e not going to be doing so.

We had a socially distant, properly monitored cooking event at the synagogue last Sunday.

We had tables that were six feet apart, no.

And shared utensils.

And shared utensils.Everybd we prepared meals for 35 congregants and they were n delivered to each of those congregants.

And then we offered two different Zoome Seders wheI mean, everybody's into nown my folks who don't have a computer know how to call .

So we zoomed both first ni, which we partnered with Tee Israel.

Lovely Highton and Temple s said of Scranton and Binay Shalom then offered those s our Seder for a second nig.

So everybody had a communiy center to attend.

It's not the same.

It's definitely not the sa.

I thin people of all backgrounds are feeling tht now last year we had just e into lockdown so are there things that are happening s year that are a little bite at ease than last year?

But last year Passover wase first big power point I had ever done.

Big meaning.

150 Slide's this year.

It's kind of old hat.

I know how to do this.

So we've gotten just a lote comfortable with the proces and the technology.

Rabbi, I wanted to ask abof you could just explain a le bit about Pasver andt's a celebration of freedom.

But for those who don't kn, if you could explain that a little bit and it's almost there's a little bit of parallel to what's happenig now of freedom from this v. Can you talk a little bit t that Passover begins with e enslavement of the Jewish people for 400 years in Eg, Moses goes the pharaoh and utters those famous words,t my people go after ten pla, the last of which was the h of the first born, the phah finally, reluctantly agreeo let the Jewish slaves go as they're crossing the Sea of Reeds, Pharaoh changes hisd about losing this incredibe labor source and tries to t them back.

And God who had split the a of Reeds so the Israelites could pass through on dry d causes the waves to come crashing down on Pharaoh.

The Israelites having a cue of slavery didn't know whao do with freedom and how toe free people, which is in se ways does parallel where we today with Covid.

We are kind of emerging lie little moles from our self-imposed isolation and hope.

People are doing it cautioy and carefully because if we just go teang will he nilly out as the good doctor has indicated, we're going to e a problem.

We've got to do things carefully.

God realized that the Israelites were not ready r freedom.

So it took us 40 years in e desert for that old generan that didn't know how to bee to die out so that the youngsters, the younger generation could continue n and as we ere on the side f caution, as more vaccinatis are being given, is your congregation being vaccinad and how is that changing?

Little by little what you n and cannot do?

Oh, my congregation is acty and avidly seeking the vac.

I don't kw of anyone in my community that does not wao be vaccinated.

We for our little cooking soiree last week, I got tog one of my congregants a yer ago.

Of course, I have my congregants, my congregantl the time.

I'm a hugger, but no, I am fully vaccinated.

She is fully vaccinated.

It's like it saves.

We could hug.

This was an amazing, amazig touching moment, one wheree truly realized how much wee missed each other, touching elbows just doesn't cut it.

Is it necessary at the mom?

Yes, But for those hugs tht are coming oh, we say in Yiddish I'm Ohia.

It goes beyond being a pleasure.

It's just.

Oh, yes, absolutely.

Rabbi, I don't think any os realize we'd ever take a hg for granted.

Hopefully we never do agai.

Let's talk about just celebrating these holidaysn general Passover, which is going on right now.

How do we safely celebrate these these holidays that e typically big family holid, big dinners, people sharing dinners, hugging?

How do we do that safely?

Now?

Is it a lot of Zoome?

Are you coming together in person at all but distanci?

How do you celebrate these Gamma Well, my normal famiy Seder is about 35 people, r living room, which is where would have it is 20 by 30.

You can't safely distance 5 people in a 20 by 30 room.

It just doesn't work.

So obviously we did not dot this last year.

Seder we were for that wase four of us who live in thi house.

My husband, myself and I we and two of our kids this yr we had the third kid here h his lady friend.

So there were six of us.

I am vaccinad.

My husband's vaccinated.

The kids are not.

But everybody is in isolat.

So we felt OK.

Your isolating.

We're isolating.

That sounds relatively saf.

You guys get to sit on that side of the table because you're not part of our pods it were.

So they did and it was greo see them because we've only really been seeing them thh car windows.

And, you know, Zoom's and .

Sure.

Rabbi, what about things le peopleho will typically shw up in person to synagogue r for the rite of passage foe younger kids who are going through their bar mitzvah?

These are traditionally big parties with lots of peopl.

How have people been celebrating those over thet year over the past year wee not had big benefits, but e have had one there were abt 20 people who attended our sanctuary holds 250 and wet that this for that moment s safe enough.

We did contract contact tracing.

We took everyone's tempera.

Everyone was masked.

But it's not the same, doet have that same.

We say in Hebrew ruah thate spirit, that same feeling t you get that contact high f everybody being so involve.

The big party's not happen.

Absolutely not happening iy congregation.

And we have to be a mitzvah coming up in May one is gog to have I think it's 20 pe.

The other is going to have eight.

The Cantor and I will bothe masked and have a face shid and the family will be at e podium.

We will be at another actly I'll be at mine.

The cantor will be at hersd the family will be at a th.

And things that we normallo like carrying the Torah ard the congregation, but the congregation to touch and s not doing that any one, especially for the kids, bt hopefully as we get vaccind and move forward with us, e they'll get a do over on te party because I know the ks always look forward to thar sure.

I just want to ask you onee question before we go.

What d you think has changd forever as we move forwardn this pandemic Gamma Kind of maybe we're turning a corn, but what do you think willy forever?

What changes because of the pandemic?

I think we become more awaf those people who are really vulnerable in our congregan and in our community.

And what we need to do to e sure that they are taken ce of.

We just can't lead people n the dust.

We've got to pick up the p. We've got to knock on a do.

Hopefully soon when everyos back ordinated, we've got o make sure people are cared.

And this pandemic has truly made that crystal clear.

I think you're definitely right.

Rabbi Melodie De Vries from Congregation Binay, Shalomd Easten.

Thank you so much for joing us today.

And I hope you have a wondl Passover week and a blessed holy week to you.

Thank you.

We want to thank our guestr being with us today.

We want to thank you for joining us for community ue on Coronavirus.

We'll be here at 4:00pm eah Monday, Wednesday and Fridn PBS.

39 and on the rad at ne 30.

Those same nights on W Lev Parnas News.

We'll be back on Wednesdayt four with a look at how the American Red Cross is contributing to the vaccine efforts and how they're organized has changed overe past year during this pand.

If youave a question, you n leave at our website.

PB's 39 dog on social medir give us a call and leave t. The phone number is four et four eight two one zero zeo zero eight for PBS alreadye and 12 hour news.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Stay safe.