Hello and welcome to PBS39 and WLVT community update.

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 Bethlehem.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Our guests today include an infectious disease doctor with Lehigh Valley Health Network discussing more about when we need masks or don't need masks.

Also here, Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Schlosberg weighing in on what this all means for those here in the Lehigh Valley.

Our guests will be with us in just a moment.

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

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

Let's 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.

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

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

More people can attend events and gatherings both indoors and outdoors.

In Pennsylvania, the governor's office says as of this morning, capacity for indoor events can increase to 50% and outdoor events can increase to 75%.

Those who are fully vaccinated do not have to wear a mask.

However, municipalities, school districts, restaurant and venues can continue to maintain their stricter rules on Memorial Day capacity limits will be lifted across the state.

In his hometown of York, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf roll up his sleeve today.

What's really important I mean, this is just takes a load off my mind.

I feel safe personally, but I also feel much more confident in terms making sure that the people around me are safe.

The governor received his second vaccine, Family First Health, a federally qualified health center.

He urged anyone who might be considering getting a Covid vaccine to make the appointment and get vaccinated.

He says it's, quote, the only way to ensure each of us and our loved ones are safe and healthy as we continue to reopen the Commonwealth today, the state reported a total of 1983 new coronavirus cases and 84 more deaths over Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday saw a total of 872 new cases the first time that number has dipped below 1000 in months.

To date, a total of 26,800 33 Pennsylvanians have died from Covid-19 so far, almost 10 million vaccine doses have been administered in Pennsylvania and the state ranks ninth among all 50 states for first doses administered.

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

Dr Luther Rhodes is an infectious disease specialist at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

He's offered his medical advice and expertize to us throughout this pandemic.

Also with us is state Representative Mike Schlosberg, a Democrat and Lehigh County.

Thank you both so much for joining us.

Representative Schlosberg, we will be with you in just a minute.

We want to begin today with Dr Rhodes, as always, Dr Rhodes, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Brittany.

It's a pleasure to be here again.

It's great to have you once again.

Doctor.

A lot of confusion out in the public this weekend.

After the CDC lifted the mask mandate last week for vaccinated people.

That's for both outdoors and indoors.

It seems many are hesitant to take the mask off right away.

So what's your advice Gamma Can we ditch the masks?

Can we not ditch the mask Gamma I think that has everybody confused as to do we walk into the grocery store without a mask at this point Gamma Well, it's a good question.

When do we give for our old friend, so to speak, for our new enemy?

It is not an easy decision.

Immediately, the CDC announcement, I think most everybody public health, private practice, most citizens and so on off guard a it's a great sounding message to take off the mask.

And it's my understanding on most days we're working toward a graduated or stepwise plan to do the same thing and it certainly would have been better to have this coordinated better so that governors didn't spend the weekend all weekend trying to figure out what their own plans were going to be.

How are they going to respond Gamma It was certainly would have been better in a way to to have to announce this to the states and to the governors first to allow them to talk to their constituents first about is this the right time because we have to make a personal decision, a public health, local decision and statewide national the facts we still have active Covid transmission, but Moderna, Mount Penn, Lehigh County and a higher amount.

And Northampton County, Pennsylvania isn't out of the woods yet.

I would like to say we are I can't wait to take the mask off and leave them off.

But again, I'll be frank if you are at high risk senior citizen, you have bad health conditions, severe cardiac, renal, even if you're vaccinated.

Be careful.

I say that again, respecting the desire for people to show some benefit.

Even the governor wants benefit from his second shot.

Perhaps you'll feel better after he gets the second shot.

But the truth is it's not a perfect vaccine.

It's 85 to 90% effective.

That means as many as one in ten, for example, who are vaccinated could catch Covid.

Fortunately, when that happens, it's a milder, less severe form.

So it's still an important message, though, for folks to realize that even with vaccinated, they should use common sense.

It's not time yet to go into large gatherings where you don't know if other people are vaccinated or not.

We certainly don't want to put people at the doors of businesses in the role of policing who vaccinated, who's not.

That's not fair.

So I think it was probably premature to say take off the mask.

You don't ditch the mask.

Let's just hear the message that we're getting close in Pennsylvania.

We're getting close to 40% of our citizens are know are vaccinated, but that means 60% are not.

So we have a way to go.

It's a positive message to go toward our aim toward getting the mask off.

But it's too soon for everybody just to take the mask off the also I just to remind people there's not going to be a rule mandating you take your mask off at any point.

I don't think that will ever occur.

I think forever Youngsville if you're a mind to Orefield comfortable I should say, feel comfortable wearing a mask, continue by all means, continue to wear a mask.

I don't think will ever be outlawed that you wear a mask.

So be reassured that you're not going to be put at risk unnecessarily.

You make a personal choice to attend an event or not to attend an event.

Dr Rhodes, I wanted to ask what are some of the situations where you really should be wearing them still at this point?

I know you say a lot of the difference situations.

It's kind of your personal choice if you're vaccinated or not.

But are there any cases when you absolutely should be wearing it?

I know I saw a couple of people saying it feels good to exercise in a gym without a mask on.

In that case, is it time to take your mask off one of those situations where we should still be wearing them Gamma What's your opinion?

I would say situational if you're going into a very large gym where the equipment is distance quite a bit, they're handling as good as you're comfortable that it's a safe environment to begin with, then yes, I think it's reasonable.

But where I don't exercise the rule change has been if you were vaccinated, you don't need to wear your mask.

But again, it puts you in the role of it's on the honor system.

Not sure I'm quite ready to go there yet in a crowded situation, crowded theater crowd at any event, it's indoors.

Puts me on guard.

I'd be a little careful, but out of doors I would be far less worried about group attendance at outdoor events.

So what about in the case of some of these big box stores who are coming out and saying we no longer require mass to come in the stores?

time they should be doing that?

Actually, I thought it was the opposite.

I think Saturday Night Live a little bit of a routine on the new rules and pointed out in the background it is all Starbucks and some other large places where they're going to require Marcil because they haven't had time to figure this out yet.

And I don't think you want to put we shouldn't be putting the Graeter's or the front the people at the entrance to the store into a conflict situation with individuals choosing not to wear a mask or wear a mask and so on that needed to be thought certainly to private any private business is going to have the right to refuse service.

It'll be to those without a mask.

Again, it shouldn't have to come to this.

I think we're getting so close to the goal line we should keep that in mind.

We're getting there, but we're not there yet.

I would have hoped CDC kind of an announcement would have been a couple of weeks, maybe a month from now, Friday, last Friday seemed to be too soon to have this hideous without thinking it's out of date.

Dr Rhodes.

It's the honor system right now.

proof of vaccination at this point.

So what do you say to the people who take off their masks Gamma Maybe they're not vaccinated, but they say that they are.

What do you have to say to them?

Well, they're putting themselves potentially and others at risk.

Oh, I see.

Patients every day who are newly infected with Covid is a huge setback to mean some.

You have to see what it does for family to have new Covid if it were once a month that I saw Covid case that I would think it was a we were overdoing Tuerk wearing masks and so on.

But it's every day I see new Covid cases nowhere near what it was a month or two or three ago, but it's still every day which tells me it's outside.

I mean, it's still here.

So it's too soon to assume that any significant size Gary Day remember one one person in nine Lehigh County I said Covid there's a pretty high number when you stop and think of it and we should hopefully keep it at that number and not have it five out of nine.

So we have to be careful, cautious.

Trust me, I'm born and raised in Spotlight PA. We're probably the mindset a little different on mask use and so on.

And so I respect people who are, if you will, put off my mask or don't understand your value.

So I'm speaking to them to say they have some value, they're not perfect mask is not a perfect for anything and it shouldn't be a political statement ever.

But it has certainly been shown to be better and no mask in most cases and it shows I think people are respecting other parts of infection control, not getting too close together, certainly not sharing face to face shouting or talking loud in a crowded environment, particularly if it's driven by spirits and so on.

That's the risk for spreading Covid that's the risk I'm seeing on a regular basis.

Family events where half the people were Mastrov.

Nobody's wearing a mask and you get one or two people from that family event the following week who have fever, cough, shortness of breath and end up in the emergency room.

You don't want to infect your family members for sure.

Dr Rhodes, I wanted to ask about vaccine supply today.

The president came out and said the US will share I believe it's about 80 million vaccines with the rest of the world.

Do we have that supply at this point?

Do we have that kind supplied to share with the rest of the world?

I know the beginning supply was such such a problem for us.

It seems like vaccines are free flowing now, but do we have that supply to share Gamma I don't know.

At the molecular level that's true.

That announcement caught me a little bit to my surprise and in fairness, I would say my public health instinct is obviously to share when I see that 3% of India, 3%, not 43 but 3% of that entire continent is vaccinated, that we're not safe until we're not safe.

No states until a much higher percentage of the population of India vaccinated.

If the only way that can happen is for us to share.

Not at all.

Not by taking away from each state's residents or citizens, but if we have excess supply.

Absolutely.

We should share that.

That's just we've done it with other diseases.

We're the first to share vaccines, shots and so on.

And public health crisis emergencies throughout the world.

And in the same breath today, New Jersey coming out.

The governor of New Jersey coming out and saying that's come the fall fall school season that kids are going back in classroom in-person learning.

Do you think this is the right time to make that decision even though we're a couple months out from that start date?

We'll get in the pickle.

The controversial things this Dr you know, there's a lot happening in the world of vaccines and decision making today.

But I have to give my boss away way.

I've been for schools opening and kids getting back a long time ago because the epidemiology, the facts of the disease do not support children as any kind force amplifier for the spread of Covid to to each other or to their teachers.

That fact it has actually been unchanged throughout the entire pandemic.

That's a frustrating one for me in many ways because I've seen I mean, I'd be the first to say if this flu and it was just the opposite with flu.

Kids were children were magnifier amplifier of disease.

But it's just not true with has never been true with the Covid.

Fortunately, thank heavens Dr Luther Rhodes from Lehigh Valley Health Network, as always, thank you so much for weighing in today.

Thank you.

And we continue this community update on coronavirus on PBS39.

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

Now let's bring in our next guest, State Representative Mike Schlosberg.

Is responsible for Lehigh County.

Representative, thank you so much for joining us.

My pleasure as always.

Thanks so much for having me.

Great to have you back.

I'd like to start by asking you about the new math guidelines, what they mean for the folks here in the Lehigh Valley and how you saw it play out over the weekend once that kind of a surprise CDC announcement last week.

I don't think a lot of people were prepared for that.

So how are you seeing this all play out?

Well, I think what you said is very accurate.

It was unquestionably it took a lot by surprise and it felt very good as somebody was vaccinated, you know, who was excited to start reapproach normal sort of Weissport how it's playing out so far is very, very gradual.

And this is the best example I can give my favorite ice cream shop in the outer market, Allentown and they have their four year anniversary.

They had a party outside and socially just because they had to go inside to get the ice cream.

And I walked into the shop and to a person, every single employee and every single person in the shop was vaccinated.

I was with my dad.

He happened to forget his mask.

He took one look around the room, one forget, and he walked right back outside and waited.

I think people are really going to actually struggle to re adapt to a new normal, especially because the Covid all the public health experts, all the responsible elected officials on both sides of the aisle have been saying do your part, wear your mask is the best way to protect yourself and others and because there are still hundreds, if not thousands of cases in Pennsylvania actively spreading on a daily basis, I think you're going to get a lot of people who are particularly cautious and candidly, you know, I'm going to approach this with some caution at least in large crowds, certain.

Sure.

And what about the easing of some of the other mitigation and efforts?

Of course, I mentioned in the beginning of this show capacity limits increase today indoors an outdoors.

So what about the along those lines Gamma Do you think it's the right time to be doing that?

And as we move towards the end of the month, Memorial Day, they will be lifted as capacity limits.

So are you in agreement with some of the things that are being lifted?

So we came back to that so-called new normal.

Well, a few things.

I think we've got to have a nuanced conversation about public health and something Yardley all of us have gotten a ton of education on what the governor has done throughout his mitigation methods.

Just try to balance a series of really, really bad decisions.

Right.

You could choose to do absolutely nothing of Covid run rampant and overwhelm our hospitals, kill tens of thousands of people and in fact, even more on a regular you could enact a complete and total lockdown where you freeze everybody in their homes and have the army deliver food and clothing, which actually was what was being done in China for a time or you try to find a middle ground which balances the need for people to get out to take care of their own physical, social, psychological needs, to generate jobs to generate the generate money for the economy and to continue to try to live their life as normal as possible.

I think the governor has area on the side of protecting life.

I think that's valid.

I also think that at this point we're kind of hitting the point where you can protect yourself a little bit more so by Mar-a-Lago I do agree with the gradual lifting of restrictions, especially waiting until after the Memorial Day holiday.

As we saw last year, every time there was a holiday, there was a huge spike.

So I think waiting through Memorial Day before listing all mitigation measures for the Fourth of July, we're going to be in an even better position as appropriate.

I will add again to be clear, I'm a politician.

I'm not a doctor.

I defer to doctors.

But from all the literature I've seen the risk of contracting Corona outdoors is really, really small.

So I think lifting outdoor restrictions at this point by then you need to take appropriate risk reduction measures when you're in a crowd.

But I think by and large, lifting outdoor restrictions is a pretty appropriate response.

Sure.

When it comes to vaccinating people, what what's progress been like as of late at the Allentown Health Bureau?

Of course, they were at the fairgrounds vaccinating people.

People were turning out in droves.

It's kind of slow down in the last few weeks.

But what's progress like there at this point?

I so it was an interesting experience for me as the elected official, especially at the start because the beginning in all of my colleagues can verify this.

We are getting overwhelming calls from folks who are saying where is but how can they get a vaccine?

And the answer, of course, is, well, here's the numbers that you can call.

We've definitely hit a point where anyone who wants a vaccine and who has the means to get a vaccine can get where we've shifted now.

And this is let me emphasize what I just said.

The means to get a vaccine that means you have a job that allows you to do it.

You have a job that allows you to take time off potentially to deal with any of the after effects.

You don't have any family responsibilities.

People who are young children or older adults that you have to care for.

You have transportation to a vaccine clinic.

What we're seeing now is the need to quite literally go door to door, meet people where they're at.

Go to churches, funeral homes.

I was reading an article earlier today about that where we need to really shift our efforts now by and large, taking care of seniors and the medically fragile community is making sure that people don't meet those criteria, can still get access the vaccine and then a lot of cases that means community of color and for sure.

And you recently toured the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living in Allentown to see how the federal Covid-19 relief money was being used.

So what did you see?

What were some of your findings?

It was pretty clear that the need still exists.

Federal aid has really helped a lot of non-profits and other businesses, my colleagues and I and this involved the rest of my Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives.

We're pushing the Pennsylvania rescue plan, which is how we'd like to see $7 billion from the federal government spent.

We wanted to make sure that it doesn't just get thrown into a budget hole but instead gets invested in job creation, loan forgiveness, rent relief, public utility relief and more.

And we need to continue to make sure that we're spending that money responsibly, not just to getting people healthy and vaccinated, but recovering from the clear economic devastation, a pandemic from do you see any more funding coming down the line or the need for more funding as we move through this kind of on the other side of this pandemic?

We're through the immediate need.

But the real question isn't immediate need any more.

It's going to be what's the long term need we know that it took years and years and years and far too long for people to actually recover from the Great Recession.

The good news is that I think the federal government learned that lesson.

They decided this time around they couldn't go too big.

So there is a lot more stimulus and a lot more generous programs.

But the trick is going to be using that money responsibly to make sure that people can get independent and can get on their feet again.

I don't know a single human being in government that wants someone to be permanently dependent on the taxpayer dollar.

We want to help people get through their emergency and then we want to help them get back to work so they can lead good and healthy and independent lives.

And that's got to be the goal and that's got to be how we spend the money.

And when you talk about the long term effect of this, of course, mental health is a big one.

A lot of people are really struggling through this pandemic and this has been something you have been very vocal about mental health.

So what do you think we need to do to get people the mental health treatment that they need and make this topic a little less taboo?

I think it's very, very clear that Covid exacerbated every already existing societal that we had out there.

Unfortunately, among some again, people who traditionally suffer from social isolation, people who suffered from financial devastation and especially kids and teenagers, they got really, really hit hard.

I think that this will put increased pressure on us as policy, as policy makers to adequately fund mental health resources that's got to be a constant part of the conversation.

But the good news of Covid, we've got to find some semblance of good news moving forward is that more and more people are talking about mental health.

And I will add that some governmental regulations that were enacted that could, by the way, be overturned if the two of the referendums have tomorrow made it easier for people to get mental health help that made it that way.

Some regulations related to telehealth so that people sit here talking to their therapist, their psychiatrist, their psychology from the comfort of their own homes and candidly, just to go off topic for a minute, if we vote yes on those regulations could be waived or those regulations could be reenacted in a lot of people's work, in a lot of pain and have a lot of problems.

Sure.

Is that something you've heard from your constituents they want to see more of from hospitals and health care networks in particular?

Dr Rhodes, and certainly speak to this one much more eloquently than I can.

But want some of the regulations that were waived as part of the state of emergency made it easier for people to get mental health help because it required it with some standard restrictions against telehealth.

So again, telehealth for folks who aren't familiar with it is literally getting access to health care while you are sitting at home either through your phone or through your computer, just like we're talking right now.

You're in your studio in Bethlehem and I'm not in prison.

I know it looks like I'm in prison, but I'm actually in my basement office.

So it gives us the ability to do and candidly, I am very, very scared of what happens if we overturn the state of emergency because people think, oh, we're going to get freedoms.

Well, with that freedom, that comes a heck of a lot of responsibility that you may not want to incur yet.

So that's it's something that I'm really worried about.

Definitely.

All right.

We'll have to wait and see what happens there.

Of course, tomorrow is election Day.

I just like to ask what you're telling folks who are heading to the polls.

How can they stay safe?

What do they need to remember as they're going to cast their vote Gamma A lot of people chose to vote by mail.

Thankfully, the legislature legalized vote by mail.

No excuse balloting actually before the Covid pandemic and I'm relieved that despite some attacks from some of my friends on the other side of the aisle remains in effect if they want to stay safe, use social distancing, put on your mask and try to stay as far apart from people as possible.

However, to be clear, there's no question about it.

You can definitely vote and you can vote safely.

I have every confidence that sure, as we move forward through this pandemic and like we said, almost it looks feels like the finish line is almost there.

What do you want people to remember as a representative?

What do you want your constituents to know more than anything else?

I yellow phase because every morning nine 45 AM and my official Facebook page and I include every Facebook Live with a line I apparently inadvertently stole from Jerry Springer, which is Take care of yourselves and each other and I mean that we are truly almost out of the woods at this point next year barring some freak mutation, Covid is going to be a distant and horrific memory.

So the question is twofold.

First, can we get to the finish line with a minimal amount of damage?

We've already lost so much and so many of our friends.

So the question before us is how can we minimize the death and illness going forward and make sure that we act responsibly in order to get through this pandemic?

But then we've got a broader question.

We've seen what this pandemic has brought upon us and then the question becomes as a society, what do we want to do and who do we want to be?

Do we want to be a society where neighbors actually care for each other, where people are willing to endure the most simple inconvenience in order to keep each other safe where we believe in truth and in science and in facts or do we want to continue to kind of buy into this alternative narrative?

We're Covid as a hoax and masks are just part of tyranny.

By Governor Wolf and Rachel Levine the questions before us I think are really stark as a society and we're going to have to grapple with them long after Covid is finally I think they'll be a lot of questions we ask as we move forward.

State Representative Mike Schlosberg from Lehigh County, thank you so much for joining us today.

We want to thank our guests for being with us and you for joining us for community update on coronavirus.

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

39 and on the radio at nine 30.

Those same nights on WLVT.

Our news.

We'll be back Wednesday at four to talk about what the easing of Covid restrictions means for those in the Catholic Church with Bishop Alfred Charlottes of the Diocese of Allentown.

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

Nine dog or on social media, you can also give us a call.

The phone number is 44 eight two one zero zero zero eight four PBS39 and WLVT Arnoux.

I'm Brittany Sweeney Staci