Hello and welcome to PBS39 WLVT comunity update on coronavirus.

It's presented by Capital Blue Cross and brought to you with help from our community partner Lehigh Valley Health Network.

We are coming to you live from the Peel Public Media Center Bethlehem.

One day after the CDC issued a game changer in the coronavirus crisis declaring that people vaccinated against Covid-19 don't need to wear masks outdoors, work indoors in most cases I'm Brittany Sweeney our guests today include an infectious disease doctor with Lehigh Valley Health Network.

We'll also welcome a Bethlehem restaurant owner trying to manage through the changing rules and uncertainty of the pandemic.

Our guests will be with us in just a couple of minutes.

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

The phone number is Fauci four eight two one zero zero zero eight.

We'll answer some of your questions live.

Plus for coronavirus updates, be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

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

There you'll find helpful information in both English and Spanish.

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

It's a source of relief, but also one that's sparking confuse in CDC says people in the US who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 do not need to wear masks or social distance outdoors or indoors, except in certain cases.

Now businesses, schools and places of worship will have to decide what their policies will be.

Some stores like Home Depot, CVS and Macy's have all said they will still require masks for customers and employees while they review their guidelines.

Now there are exceptions where are the mask orders still in effect?

Well, nursing homes, hospitals will still require them.

Same for homeless shelters and prisons and mask wearing is still recommended for all travel.

The new guidelines do not lift the mask requirements even for vaccinated people on airplanes, busses, trains, boats and cruise ships.

The Department of Health says over nine and a half million vaccinations have been given in Pennsylvania.

More than 47% of adults are fully vaccinated and case counts are falling dramatically.

The seven day moving average of new cases is down 30% from a week ago and down 60% in the past month.

Today, the state reported 1643 new coronavirus cases and 27 more deaths to date, a total of 26,700 and 24 Pennsylvanians have died from Covid-19 and the Bethlehem Area School District is partnering with the City Health Bureau on vaccine clinics for students aged 12 and up.

The first will be held from 10am to noon tomorrow at the Wind Creek Event Center.

Another is set next Thursday, May 20th, at when the creek from one to six pm the Health Bureau will be giving first shots of the Pfizer vaccine.

Students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

You can register at Basti schools.

Doug, or by calling six one zero eight six five seven zero eight three.

Let's meet our guests for the day.

Dr Eric Young has been with us before.

He's a specialist in infectious diseases at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Also, Rachel Griffeth is the owner of Apollo Grille on West Broad Street in Bethlehem the past year, of course, a real struggle for businesses like hers.

Thank you both so much for joining us today.

Rachel, we're going to have you in just a couple of minutes.

Speak to us.

In the meantime, we're going to begin today with Dr Young.

Dr., thank you so much for joining us.

Of course, the big story, the CDC finally coming out and lifting mask orders for vaccinated people outdoors and indoors.

It came as a surprise to some because the CDC has been so cautious in its guidance.

So we want to know what's your thought on this?

Is the timing right?

Right now, this came as a surprise to me as it did to everybody else.

And I think it's a good surprise.

I think it's a very good surprise, actualy.

It shows that the CDC is recognizing just how efficacious these vaccines are and we now know that people who are vaccinated are very unlikely to catch Covid-19 are, if they do catch it, are very, very unlikely to wind up in the hospital or are dying from the disease.

And I think what's really made this possible is they're also very unlikely to spread the disease to other people.

And so I really am looking forward to to how this plays out over the next probably several days.

Now, of course, the headline they said hospitals are one of the places where masks will still be required.

But are you seeing any confusion today?

I know I walked into work today thinking do I mask?

Do not mask.

I saw a lot of people erring on the side of caution and wearing their masks.

So what's your recommendation at this point?

Can we just take them off and be done with them at this point?

So we're not quite there yet.

So most important reminder is it really only applies to people who are fully vaccinated.

Fully vaccinated means that if you have a two dose vaccine, which are the Pfizer, Pat Toomey, Wuhan a vaccine, you're considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the second shot from that vaccine, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a single dose vaccine.

And so you're fully vaccinated two weeks after that, it takes about two weeks to full effect.

That said, the CDC specifically states that it does not overrule local or federal law or the rules of specific businesses.

So if you walk into a supermarket and there's a sign the nurse, it says Tim Ramos, you should wear a mask.

OK, so make sure you're keeping an eye out for those different signs to kind of let you know what you should or should not be doing.

Doctor, let me ask this.

Is this sending a message to people that vaccinations mean the end of the coronavirus crisis at this point?

I really believe that the end of the coronavirus vaccine will depend or does depend heavily on vaccination.

And I do think that after very careful consideration, I think the last thing that the CDC or what had happened was people to get vaccinated and then to see more surges and Covid-19 that we see that cases are coming down consistently with vaccination and we have very, very good coverage of vaccination, not quite enough to reach Muhlenberg unity.

I think that the CDC has recognized that it is safe for people who are vaccinated to go out and enjoy the things we've enjoyed before.

I think that we're also hoping that this will act as more motivation for people who are on the fence or maybe putting off getting a vaccine because it really does give them something very tangible and very good if they want.

They come vaccinated.

So I was just going to ask, do you think this is an incentive for people who haven't got vaccinated yet to get vaccinated or do you think it's a get out of jail free card?

You know, OK, I'm throwing off my mask whether I'm vaccinated or not.

It's kind of the honor system at this point.

Right.

And there's no discussion as to whether this will be in any way enforced.

I don't think I don't expect to see people asking to see your vaccine currently for routine activities or wearing a special I don't know, I got vaccinated and it's been certified or something like that.

So probably at least for the time is on the honor system.

Certainly I hope that people will will respect the motivation behind dropping the mask is the mask mandates is based on on the effectiveness of the vaccine and not just that the pandemic is truly over.

I'm still seeing Covid-19 Lehigh Valley Hospital much fewer than I had recently and certainly West Reading I had several months ago.

But there is still disease circulating immunity and it is really people who are vaccinated that now have a much lower, significantly lower chance of becoming.

What about some of the other things?

Obviously the CDC saying you can be around other people without a mask if they're vaccinated.

You don't have to necessarily social distance.

What about things like shaking hands, giving a hug, being just in the general area of people's bubbles and their personal bubble Gamma Is it a safe to do if you're both vaccinated or what should you do if you don't know if someone else is vaccinated?

I know we've all gotten away from kind of handshaking when we meet someone new.

So can we go back to at some of those customs we already knew?

I really hope so.

I've always kind of hit finger.

You often starter in my facial encounters with the handshake and now I don't know, I'll be used to it again to doing it again when I haven't been challenged with that yet.

Today they would have been the first day for my interpretation CDC guidane.

It's really in a sense if all people involved in an activity are vaccinated, it's back to normal.

So hugging is OK. Handshaking is OK.

Specifically states that being within 60 people is OK. Now you do ask a very interesting question.

What if you don't know and I don't know yet what the etiquette is going to be around asking people are you vaccinated?

But certainly if people are adhering to Maskell's found in one sense being the guidance, I do think that if two people are vaccinated, it is almost certainly say one person out of the two is vaccinated.

It's still relatively safe.

I don't want to say this is absolutely fine.

And I think if we get further specific guidance, I would pay very close attention to that.

But if you look at one person who potentially has coronavirus who may be asymptomatic, carrying another person who is very unlikely to catch coronavirus or catch a bad enough case, they can transmit it.

It's probably OK, but that's really just my thoughts right now.

And I'm waiting to hear further guidance myself that Dr Young, can you talk about what you're seeing day to day right now?

Our case counts compared to earlier this year and even earlier this month.

At this point, Sugar Grove, I was I believe I was on this show just before Easter.

And at that time we were concerned.

We had just seen a big surge earlier January, maybe early February.

It had come down Roger Stone this uptick in cases and it just went away and we had a little blip in case numbers came down and they're continuing to come down.

So right now I'm coming busy service in the hospital, Nancy Pelosi Covid-19.

But hospital wide we are seeing much less of it than we had even a Martin Walsh a somewhat less than a month ago.

It wasn't terrible a month ago, certainly much less than during the searches that we've lots of changes this week, including the approval of the Pfizer vaccine for children who are 12 to 15.

So what are you hearing from your patients?

Are you hearing parents talk about getting their children vaccinated?

Are you or are you hearing some hesitancy there?

So as soon as the Monday before approval came, one of my colleagues that I work with, another infectious sees doctor was frustrated with Tony Blinken my child get vaccinated.

But one day later she was making arrangements for her child to get vaccinated.

I think there is some concern among people that I've spoken with about the safety of the vaccine.

I really believe this vaccine has been studied, invented for children in that age as well as it has been for adults or this was not a decision was made for anything other than the results of research.

And after Pfizer was able to demonstrate the safety and see the vaccine for adults, they went and specifically targeted children as one of the groups that they look at and the data suggests shows that this is a safe, effective vaccine even for children.

The age range that has been approved.

And what are you thinking about the fall?

What do you think this means for children going back to in-person classes?

Many of them have already, but do you think it'll be no questions asked?

We're back in a classroom come September, no questions asked.

This is a tall order.

So I don't know for sure what the environment will be in different school districts.

I have a daughter in college and I know that for her to return the fall she has to be vaccinated, believe she's getting her second shot vaccine today near her college.

As far as public schools, I think I don't think anybody's required keep in mind it's only affects children, ages Portland above.

So it's going to be primarily middle one high school kids who are affected.

And I know that during the period time where we're schools were struggling with hybrid models and things of that sort that high schools were more difficult to get because separate out high schools typically are larger than the elementary schools.

And so I think this will certainly help bring the high schools back online more fully, more comfortably.

Dr Young, back to vaccines for adults.

We're seeing overseas.

Some countries saying that they are getting ready to give those third booster shots by the end of the year for people over 50.

I think we've talked a lot about needing that third booster shot for adults here in the US as well.

So when it comes to that third booster, are we definitely thinking that we're going to have to get it?

And the other question is, if you got Moderna, do you need to stick with Moderna or could you get Pfizer or Johnson and Johnson at that point?

And so I actually checked the CDC website today for that very question.

And the answer still is we don't know.

I think that there is really two to likely possibilities.

One is that this is a vaccine that has such good effect that it lasts for a very long time, perhaps forever.

And the other thing that would need to happen would be that the variance were also controlled by the current vaccines.

So influenza vaccine last probably more than the year that we give it.

But we know that influenza, which is a different virus, if mutates over the course of a year and so the vaccine becomes less effective because it weakens a little bit and also because the virus changes.

We know that there are variants that are mutations, changes in the Covid-19 virus.

We don't know whether or not that will affect the current vaccine.

So far it has not in a significant way, but that would be one thing.

So we don't really know.

I think that what's going to happen as far as the weakening of the vaccine is that the people who were studied early on, others before the vaccine became available to the general public or to members of the general public, they had a head start on us and they were being tested and we'll see if their immunity wanes if gets weaker and if it does at some point a decision will be made to get the vaccine.

Speaking from other vaccines.

So not the Covid-19 vaccine.

There are many other vaccines where you have to get the same shot for the primary series, but then you can go with a different brand or a different formulation if vaccination later on, if influenza vaccine is like that, for example, in fact, it's actually a slightly different vaccine each time because of those mutant strains.

The variants for influenza, again, we don't have the data yet.

Nobody has tried mixing and matching Pfizer Moderna they haven't published any data at Johnson & Johnson Equally, they haven't studied if there's a good or bad effect of mixing and matching vaccines.

But I am sure I'm sure you and your colleagues will keep us up to date as more information becomes available.

Dr Eric Young from Lehigh Valley Health Network, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you.

And we continue this community update on coronavirus PBS39.

And you can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tonight at nine 30 on 91 three WLVT.

Now let's bring in our next guest.

Rachel Griffeth owns Apollo Grill in Bethlehem.

Changes coming soon.

And how many people can be inside restaurants?

And now a sudden end to the mask orders.

Rachel, we welcome you to the show.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks so much for having me.

I guess this is a lot to keep up with.

Do you have a handle on what the new math guidelines mean?

For you and your business and everything changing day to day Gamma We do.

And I think we're going to be sticking with our practices that we are doing now, at least for the time being.

We still have a responsibility to our community to make sure that we're doing everything the right way and today I feel that we've done everything really well.

So we're going to continue that.

Our staff will continue to ask until we feel comfortable or you know, we it is time to ask.

But for the time being we will be asking and we will ask our customers don't ask as well.

Sure.

And just like the shutdown earlier in 2020 and then now these different changes come.

So fast.

I'm sure you're having to make decisions very quickly.

Can you talk about the decision making process and how you have to implement these things?

I mean, in a day at that at this point earlier in the pandemic to we've had to make many split second decisions and we haven't we've done them gracefully behind the scenes, probably a little chaotically.

But it has been a learning experience for us.

We every day we are blessed that we are in business doing well.

But from the day to day operations, from ordering food to telling us that we were going to be shut down on a Saturday, but you on Thursday, you have already ordered all your food.

You've already with your inventory.

So it's been a challenge and it's obvious I have a responsibility to my staff as well.

So I want to make sure that decisions when it comes to them, to we we've pivoted so many times and we've done a really great job doing it.

I am ready for some of those benefits.

Stop.

Sure.

And of course, one of them will come Memorial Day weekend on Memorial Day.

The restriction on capacity limits will be lifted.

So what will change for your restaurant Gamma What will you do once that is lifted?

Not much will change.

Obviously right now you're well aware there is a hiring crisis not just in our industry but in many other industries, but particularly the restaurant business and a lot of our restaurants.

A lot of my other restaurant owners even invested a lot of money and time into our outdoor dining set up.

And like I said earlier, we still have a responsibility to our community to make sure we are doing things responsibly.

So we're still going to rely our outdoor dining quite a bit and we'll add floor tables, maybe two and a couple of Barstow's.

But we don't we're not going to be changing too much.

I would not feel comfortable doing that.

Sure.

Well, as the restaurant opens up to more people, will it actually get harder for you because there's more people coming and nobody to staff these tables and the kitchen and that kind of thing at the Apollo Grill, we are blessed.

We are pretty much fully staffed, but at the end of the day, we you can only handle so much without compromising your product or certain service.

I know like I said, I'm very I'm in good shape as of right now.

But I know a lot of people that won't even be able to open at 100% capacity because they don't have the staffing.

So at this point I'm blessed that I know other people.

They're not going to be able to handle it and they are going to stay at their Chuck Schumer or that.

75% capacity.

Rachel, it seems like we are closer to normal than you have been in recent months, but that doesn't mean that it's made it any easier.

Can you talk about what is different now at your restaurant and what you think will stay changed forever because of this pandemic?

I think one of the things that has changed about the industry and I hope this does come to an end and I know I'm rooting for it, but dining out at a restaurant, you know, it's it's an intimate experience.

You know, you're coming out, you're you want to enjoy yourself and it's about the relationships that you have formed with your customers who have become family.

And I do feel that from early on in this Ben Stemrich it has that has been taken away.

We do a lot of mandating.

We do a lot of regulating.

We do a lot of you put your mask on and do this do that.

And it really takes away from that personalized experience of coming out and dining with your favorite your favorite people.

Antony Blinken love.

So I do hope that changes and I'm already starting to feel it because I'm feeling more comfortable in my own restaurant now, you know, and restaurants did for a very long time get a very bad reputation because the possibility of a Covid exposure, obviously there isn't much linked to that for sure.

But it really put a damper on our industry.

And as we're seeing in the hiring of it, of trying to get employees, we I've seen people just leave the industry in Taculli.

I mean, and that is that's what's big.

The restaurant business is fun and it's full of making memories and making people happy.

And some of that left our industry when Covid hit shore.

What have your customers and diners been like?

Have they been supportive through this whole process and understanding they actually have most of most of them and they understand that, of course, if I would love to go back to normal and whatever that may be at this point, But we do like I said, we have to do things responsibly.

We don't want to go backwards.

The last thing we want to do is be shut down again.

We can't handle that emotionally, financially.

It takes a toll.

So everyone has been extremely supportive of our efforts that we put into making people feel safe at a restaurant, whether it's the partitions that we put up or the Remy Hailo UV light treatment that we put into our systems, our strict masking policies, everyone has been very appreciative of that because they knew they know that we're doing everything in our power to keep them safe.

And of course, our our employees.

Rachel, you've been very active in the Lehigh Valley Restaurant Task Force.

What message would you send to lawmakers and the higher up who are making the decisions at this point?

How we'd be here all day.

So obviously we're very much so looking forward to the lifting of the mitigation.

I mean, at some point it has to happen and we are excited for it.

What else could I say to them?

I mean, in the unemployment I mean, ending the unemployment benefits at this point, we have to get people back to work.

We have to get people back into our restaurants, back into other jobs because it's really it's not just buying a toll on our restaurant or our industry.

It's your supply chain.

It's your drivers.

It's everything.

I mean, I restauranteurs that weren't getting that we're told the night before that they weren't even getting their deliveries because there weren't people to drive the trucks.

So we have to get people back to work and that and that's the biggest thing whether I always felt I was very blessed that my staff, the moment they could come back Tuerk knowing that there can be a risk, they came back.

You know, I wish lawmakers would have given the people stayed at work a bonus of some sort or a Tuerk bonus or thanks for sticking around and getting through this.

And I, I, I do I am appreciative at the end of the day of of our state government's efforts because we did get through it now and it makes it a little bit easier because now we know that hopefully this is it and we won't have another shutdown because we did take it slow.

Hopefully this is Rachel.

I wanted to ask you about funding.

You mentioned some of the federal funding that came down.

Was your business able to take advantage of any of the funding that was offered to small businesses through the on the county level or state or even federal level?

Yes.

I mean, we took it we took advantage and applied for every single loan or grant, I should say, that came our way.

Our city really came through to the received grants Warren County Brant's there was the city actually provided some PPE for us as well.

And obviously the first and second round of PPE were what actually saved, you know, especially that first round of PPE that's what kept us going and that's what kept our employees off of unemployment and still somewhat working and making money and Rachel Levine like so many other business owners, you pour your heart and soul into your business.

Of course, you would.

But in on the other side of things, even during a pandemic, you were able to raise $50,000 for a benefit scholarships for the community action Committee of the Lehigh Valley.

How did you manage to do this?

One of the hardest moments in having a business Gamma No, we when we started this campaign, Our Generation next Scholarship Fund, I was wondering how this was going to play out.

It was something that was very near and dear to not just my work but my entire staff and our staff went out there and our community just came together.

I mean, we are at this point around $65,000 that we've raised for this with the scholarship at this point.

And during a pandemic, I was so just my heart was warmed by.

So many people that came together to to sponsor the scholarship fund.

I mean, we had so many businesses come in, businesses come in at a $5,000 level.

Plus we were donating 5% of our sales every Tuesday night.

And we continue to do that.

You know, I was taught a long time ago from our previous owners that you need to take care of your community because your community will take you.

And that is very true.

You have to be a good community partner in order to have a successful business.

Rachel Griffiths, the owner of Apollo Real.

You're doing great things.

Best of luck to you and your staff.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

We want to thank our guests for being here.

We want to thank you for joining us for Community Update.

Coronavirus will be here at 4pm each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on PBS39 and on the radio nine 30 those same nights on WLVT.

Our news will be back Monday at four to discuss the lifting of state restrictions with State Representative Mike Schlosberg.

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

On social media or you can give us a call.

The phone number is four eight four two one zero zero zero eight four PBS39 WLVT hour news.

I'm Brittany Sweeney have a great weekend and CDC.