Hello and welcome to PBS39n WLVT community update on coronavirus.

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

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

I'm Brittany Sweeney our gt today include a hospital hospital administrator whos helped guide LVHN staff and health care consumers since beginning of the pandemic.

Also here on the heels of e big summeroncert news is ArtsQuest CEO Kasey Hilger.

Our guests will be with usn just a moment.

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

The phone numbers four eigt four eight two one zero zeo zero eight.

We'll answer some of your questions alive.

Plus four coronavirus upda.

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Coronavirus Lehigh Valley g there.% You'll find helpful informn in both English and Spanis.

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

As I mentioned, big news of Bethlehem today for mic lovers and festival goers.

Music Fest is back for 202.

The ten day festival will n August 6th through the 15th headliner include Darius Rucker, Sam Hunt and Phil Phillips and 300 free performance is will be sprd out across a dozen locatio.

We'll have much more on ths and what to expect in justa little bit.

The great Allentown fair is also back.

Country superstars Toby Keh and Carrie Underwood are ag the musical acts both concs that were canceled with the 2020 fare.

The fare will run from Wednesday, September 1st through Labor Day Monday, September 6th.

Organizers say details on health and safety protocols will be released as guidels evolve over the summer.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom f today said he won't lift Covid-19 restrictions until Memorial Day.

Wolf has been under pressue from lawmakers and business owners who hoped he would e capacity limits a few days early so they could capitae on the full holiday weeken.

The governor said he and te bipod Luzerne Covid-19 vace task force had signed off n Monday as the date just ovr 50% of Pennsylvania adultse fully vaccinated and to dae vaccine providers have givn 10.3 million doses across e Commonwealth.

Over four and a half millin people are fully vaccinate.

Did another 1.6 million hat least the first dose?

Today, the state reported 7 new coronavirus cases and 8 more deaths in total.

That's almost 1.2 million infections going back to Mh 2020.

The death toll from Covid-9 stands at 27,100 and 23 Pennsylvanians.

Let's meet our guests for e day.

Dr Robert Murphy has been h us many times before.

Always answering our quests and providing great information.

Also here is Kathy Hilgert, President and CEO of ArtsQt to tell us a bit more out e much anticipated return of music.

The big announcement coming today.

Thank you both so much for Thank you both so much for.

We will be with you in jusa few minutes.

We want to begin today witr Murhy Murphey.

Doctor, you've been very careful about saying we're.

We're not out of the woodst yet on this pandemic.

It's great to have you tod.

So give us your best assest of how far we've come and t needs to happen to waive tt checkered flag.

Well, welcome back.

It's always a pleasure to r from your out there, Britt.

So I'm hpy to b here and continue to spread the gos, as it were.

So how far have we come?

We've come 52% and that ths the number you cited there.

We've gone from 0% vaccinas to 50%.

So that's his objective as measurement as you can get still very far from 100%.

And I hate to be the Chickn Little in the audience, but still quite far from the 7% that we need to achieve hed immunity.

Dr Murphy, right before ths show happened today, right before we started, the governor's office sent outa news release saying that 7f Pennsylvanians have at leaa first se.

Some good news as we get cr to that massive mandate beg lifted.

So what does that mean in s of vaccinations?

Are you seeing the same at LVHN?

Are people still coming ind trickling in and getting vaccinated?

Well, it is the right wordn that in the adult populati, 70%, it's getting to be 70f first dose still weeks.

There's a cadence to that l the second dose occurs and that's three weeks after tt that's three weeks after t. So we're talking about a cadence of time that realls getting it towards August.

If these pple all follow through in the timeframe in which, you know, the expectation Lehigh.

So that's one piece of it.

The other piece of it is ry the kids are just getting vaccinated now.

And when we talk about a h, the herd includes the mamad papa and the kids.

So those numbers are a lite bit misleading when we talk about a disease that is viy mediated and, you know, is capable of being cried by y children as well as the ad.

So my caution here is thats far as we've come, as muchs we can look forward to to participating in Music Fes, like Kathy will talk to usa little bit later, know allf us looking forward to that.

We still have to make suret we don't let our guard down completely in the face of e lack of complete, complete achievement of our goals aa nation.

Dr Murphy, when you talk at people being fully vaccina, of course, getting that sed shot and then waiting thosw weeks after to become fully vaccinated are there are at of people who are not goinr that second shot at this p. Well, I don't want to say t quite that w. Brittany, the folks shouldt the first shot, usually fow through on the second shot.

The issue that is somewhat perplexing, but we hear the reasons for the fact that,u know, the same the same tht and enthusiasm for gettinga dose or two in your arm iny is far different than whatt was in January.

So we're in science in the medical community continueo to hope for aspire to, you know, the our entire populn in and out of the globe toe vaccinated so that we can comfortably assume that wen have full interaction in ae normal way.

Reality says 70% of the nur we need to achieve and we e short of that at this poin.

We've heard of some insane programs and other states, lotteries, college scholar, traveling's people offerina beer for a shot.

Do you think we need to ofr more incentives here in Pennsylvania?

Well, I think anything we n do to to increase the uptaf vaccine is fine.

The idea is who's going to sponsor it all?

What we do as a not for prt is we're trying to increase uptake by actually bringinr mobile van units to communs that are challenged either because they're disenfrancd or don't have access to transportation.

So we're bringing our mobie vans to bodegas into senior living facilities to to trp the percentage.

And we're also being create by having some of these afs at places like Pocono Racey as an attraction.

Other states, as you menti, there's lotteries for folko get the vaccine and beers a shot.

So if there are other waysf of getting folks to to reay step over the line of doubd get a shot in the arm, we'e all for it.

We just want to make sure r entire communities safe.

And that means the majoritf the community being vaccin.

And we're taking a look ate of the video of some of the vaccine clinics that LVHN s held over the past few mon.

Are you still running those vaccine clinics?

Are they still open to the public and are they fillinp at this point in the begin, you couldn't even get an appointment at these clini.

What's it like now?

That's correct.

So Brittany, so in the beginning, because it was h a thirst for having a vacc, we operationalize these mar clinics like the one O'Dory that you're showing he.

But really the demand now s not quite there.

So the supply really excees the demand.

So what we've done is we've repurposed these people tht we're giving these mass vaccinations to areas thate maybe traditionally more accessible, some smaller, e smaller venues redirectingo doctors' offices and having special events like the Poo Raceway that Dr Murphy, cau paint a picture of what cae counts and what it's like t now at LVHN?

Are there still people comg in with Covid cases, severe Covid cases at that Gamma e are now I mean, the beautil thing is that what we would have looked at as something that was very challenging s something that now is manageable as far as diseae management.

So that for just for numbes sake in comparison.

So about a year ago when Cd was was first done on board with us and first startingo raise its head, it was challenging the medical community that was facing s first onslaught.

And we had about 250 folksn our beds at Lehigh Valley Health Network that were diagnosed with Covid and hh proportion of those would e admitted to the intensive e unit.

And unfortunately, at that time, with the first onsla, a large number of the folko went into the ICU actuallyd as our experience with Covd got better as seasonality e us a break last summer.

We got a little more comfortable.

We understood the disease a little bit better, but thee were hit in the by a second wave that was really much e dramatic than the first.

So after Thanksgiving withe with folks getting together the holidays in late Decem, January, February, we're actually running at doublee numbers we had the season n the spring season before at about 500 Covid cases in te hospital that was really daunting.

We had to bring people fror outpatient offices to helph our inpatient facilities because there are just tooy patients on the other handt that point we're able to kp the disease a little bit me under control.

Did not have quite as many folks admitted to the intee care units and had less mortality because of it.

We're at that point now alt a year from our first surge where we've kind of gone ia little bit of a plateau at around 100, which certainly does twohings.

One, it says we are managig the disease in the communiy and part othat is in no sml part due to the vaccination programs that have been out there since January.

But at the same time, it'st zero and at the same time t it's not zero when we look around the world and see ps like India, the chance of various coming to the US ad causing a different type of wave at another time remai.

Which is why medical commuy is still remains grateful r is still remains grateful r injections but is still recommending all gung ho fr folks to really if they hae any concerns about the injections to really thinkn terms of this is not a spr, it's a marathon.

So the more shots in the a, the more we will the more l we will do as a nation.

And what about the staff at Lehigh Valley Health Netwok for the past six months thy have been full throttle.

So busy with the coronavirs pandemic, have they been ae to take their foot f the gs at least a little bit as we head into the summer Gamma Well, that's an excellent question you might look ats is saying maybe from 500 t0 you're taking the foot offe gas.

But this the use of the tem health care hero is is reay does not reflect what's gog on in the hospitals.

Because what we're dealingh now is tremendous burnout n the part of the provider community.

The nurses, the APC's, the doctors, the transport peo, the folks who have to cleap the rooms.

These people have been goig 24/7 for, as you say, six months, well over a year.

And they're burned out ands starting to take its toll n honorable to to keep the sf at the level of engagementt we still are required not y to take care of Covid, butw that the hospitals are baco serving the community and r full capacity.

You know, we have a huge population of trauma patie, of heart attack patients of mothers delivering babies,l of those people still reque personnel over and above te folks that we continue to e to care for with Covid.

So the strain and the stres and the demands put upon te medical community have been unrelenting.

These last six months.

So while the numbers might imply taking the foot off e gas, people are more burntt and they're there.

They really are heroes bece they continue to get up evy day and drag themselves ino fulfill their role as healh care professionals, not jut superheroes.

At that we mentioned earlir the vaccine clinics at plas like the Turkey Triangle ad Pocono the race, the race k where they're going to have some races coming up.

Speaking of which, as we mentioned, Music Fest is bk on this year.

So these big events seem te coming back to kind of a nl or new normal, if you will, some requiring masks, some.

So what do people really nd to be mindful as things ben to open up in these big evt start to happen?

I know we're all excited fr them to have them, but whao we need to know as we staye through all of this?

Yeah, that's a great quest, Brittany.

I'm as excited as the next person to finally be able o get outside to go to dinned do things that we all consr as part of normal life.

What I will tell you as thh I do have my mask in my po.

So in that regard, the fact that we can get out to musc fast and we can get out of parks and we can get out to ballgames is fine.

It's good.

And the outside air allowss to have some comfort in th.

The virus is not going to s imminently infectious as it would be if this was the me of January and you were lod a cold, dark room.

So there is hope in that regard.

But we are moving rapidly m 25% occupancy to 50% occup.

And some of the sports stas are saying they'll be at fl occupancy and then months o come or if we're walking dn music fast or one of the or avenues as long as we mainn a little bit ofistance and probably in some of the moe confined situations or mask that we can have some comft but only 50% of the populan is completely vaccinated ts time.

So if you have a person onr right, person on your left, there's an equal shot thate of those people are not vaccinated.

So we do have to assume tht there's still reason to be concerned.

We are a nation that's fulf smart people.

And so just trying to liveh the precautions of a mask n you're in the restroom wit0 of your best friends or lig up for that kielbasa, you , any of those things maintaa little bit more distance, maintain a mask if you're e and otherwise enjoy yourse.

Sure.

Some great advice there.

Dr Robert Murphy from Lehih Valley Health Network, as always, thank you so much r weighing in today.

And thank you as always.

Thanks for joining us.

And we continue this commuy update on coronavirus on P. , you can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tonight at nine 30 on 91 te WLVT.

Now let's bring in our next guest, Kathy Hilgert.

Is the president and CEO of ArtsQuest.

She made a lot of people hy today when she announced Mc Fest would be on for this summer after a virtual fesl last year.

Kasey A big decision.

Thank you so much for joing us.

So tell us about some of te factors that went into makg this decision.

So the factors really weret happened with the CDC and Governor Wolf about I thins around May 14th we had 100 different iterations of Muc Fest before that all of tht got thrown out the window n those social distancing guidelines in the Matherne guidelines changed up unti.

And we continue to follow l of those guidelines.

So when those changed, we e an immediate call to the cy at Bethlehem Health Departt to say now what do we do?

And the race was on.

So we had about 12 to 14 ds to be able to announce whae announced today.

Wonderful.

A lot of people really hapo hear that Music Fest is bak on, as I'm sure you are as well.

But there are some precauts that have to be set in pla.

So what kind of safety meae will be taken this summer?

So Dr Birx hit on a lot.

I think we all thought thee was a lot of confidence ase vaccination rates are goino go up and we hope they cone to go up.

That's a big deal.

We are not unaware that the are issues and variants tht can come up, but our hope s that if we all continue too our part and get vaccinate, that we will be an even ber position.

Music best comes around ths to the good efforts of Lehh Valley Health Network and t Luke's.

So our hope is we are at te lowest point in our vaccinn rate that we're going to b.

And when we get to Music F, we'll be hitting that threshold.

Sure, a lot of people, as u can see, video of the prevs year.

2019, a lot of people turnt for this huge event.

So a lot of people in a cle proximity.

Will you be requiring maskr is that something that youe to decide as you get a lite bit closer?

But we're going to follow e CDC guidelines.

What they are today is thaf you're not vaccinated, youe to wear a mask over your ne and mouth.

You have to socially distae if you are vaccinated, you don't have to wear a mask r some distance outside.

So we will continue to folw that guidance.

And of course, most of the events for Music Fest, a lf the events are outside.

So how will Music Fest this coming summer be a little t different than music fests?

Of the past?

Sure.

So we have a little over a dozen venues and plots of e of your favorite plots wile there for sure.

Your favorite food vendorsl be there.

We're going to have or 300 live free performances.

We're going to have 11 nigs of performances.

Wind Cre Steel Stage at Pen State Plaza.

So a lot's going to feel vy familiar.

You can walk around Main Street.

The whole reason why I wand to bring this back and our excitement around the loosg of the guidelines was thate could come back to the Morn College district and be Southside Arts District and make music fans feel as mus it used to feel.

And here's the important pt of that.

In a typical year, there a0 fo vendors.

There are over 500 performances.

There are so many businesss that rely on the economic impact of Music Fest to bee to bring it back I think ie in large part to the yeoma' efforts of our health care systems.

We hope that continues, but we're so excited to get everyone back together ande that we can continue this progress we've had to date.

I think a lot of people are really eager for that.

So what are you hearing frm the city and other business owners throughout the citys you plan to move forward wh Music Fest Gamma You know,e heard as early as last September, how can we bring music fans back from Amerin Historic District in the Sh Side?

Everything we have done sie the pandemic started has bn done in cooperation with te Department of Health, the y of Bethlehem.

So until they can say to us this is what is safe and wt you can do, we don't do it.

When they tell us that we n do that, then we go out tor sponsors, our members, the performers, the vendors, te crafters of retailers and y now we've got to put this tother, how can we do this?

And I'll tell you to watchs community come back togethn less than two and a half ws from what we thought we hao plan was social distancingd everybody wearing masks has been a Herculean effort.

And we are thrilled to sees response.

Of course, as I mentioned n the beginning of the show,s like Darius Rucker, Sam Hu, Phillip Phillips all comino perform in Bethlehem.

But what about the acts tht were canceled for 2020?

Any word from them?

It was people like Willie Nelsonnd bands Poison.

Are they going to get rescheduled or is it just canceled because 2020 was canceled Gamma No poison.

Willie Nelson, Kelsie, Ballerini are all being rescheduled to 2022.

So we're going to details n that very soon.

We were so grateful for alf those artists.

The one stage at PNC Plazao had been working with us ty if we can't do this year, e going to find time for yout year.

So those tickets will stile good for next year.

This has been such a crazy time, not just forusic Fes, but the Allentown fair for anyone who's running a festival.

We have been changing weeky week.

So to see the cooperation g artists, artists, managemet vendors and crafters has bn really spectacular.

So we're excited that those three artists are moving to next year and we will annoe those dates as soon as we n possibly confirm them.

We've got a lot of moving pieces on board there.

I wanted to ask about food because of course food is g part of Music Fest.

Is there anything different there with the changing CDC guidelines and people comin and out durin this pandemi?

So we will we have some tio plan for that.

We saw some time away and e e working with that with te Department of Health and others.

So you will see that evolv.

We are going to have many e announcements over the next couple of months.

But here's what you can cot on.

Your festival favorites in Ireland, Noodles and Georg, the salsa guy that we loved also Ashok's how can I fort Ashok's corn will be fanta.

And they will also be ther.

So we're lining up all thed vendors rht now and filling up the spaces.

The demand is very high.

Cassie are making me hungrt this point.

Dinner time.

We need a little bit.

Yeah, it's still a little couple hours off here.

I did want to talk about jt the impact of the pandemica whole.

2020.

Just being a really hard yr for so many businesses.

What kind of toll did it te on ArtsQuest?

Well, I appreciate you askg about answering that.

I think what I want to sayt whatever impact we had remr every festival in the Vall, every pforming arts venue n the Valley has had the same impact for us specifically, it's been over $16 milliond no end in sight.

We're coming back.

But remember, when you lose that money, you need those dollars to invest in a fesl before it even happens.

So you have to pay for the tents.

You got to pay for the cha, you've got to pay for the performers.

You have to put deposits dn everyone to show up to recp that investment.

So what I would say to our entire community and those beyond this community, wher it is music fest or anyone else, this is the year to e out and support your artis, your festivals, your venued show them exactly what youe missed because we are all hanging on by a string.

We're hanging on because te community has supported usm elected officials to sponss and members and donors and volunteers and staff who he sacrificed beyond recognitn probably pales in recognitn to what our frontline works have gone through.

And we very much recognizee lives that have been lost d the joylessness that we'vel been in.

But as we come out of this, this is the time to come ot and enjoy and support those things and performers and experiences you've missed.

Kathy, in addition to music Fest this summer, Levit Pavilion hosted a lot of different other smaller concerts.

How have they been going?

They've been happening sine the spring.

How have they been going ts season?

So prior to Monday we've ho manage capacity there and e have been doing that.

All shows that have been sd out.

We're very excited about t. Weave theloor on the first floor SteelStacks .org.

You'll see some great shows there with improv jazz and other nights there.

But once Memorial Day hitst every Saturday Sunday nigh, which will be levied, showt is open capacity.

So it is like the years you remember before of it wheru can just come on down and y yourself.

So on Monday everything changes.

Good to hear.

Good to hear.

And I finally want to ask u about recruiting and maintaining volunteers.

How has that been throughot the pandemic and ishat an issue as of now?

So there's two things are volunteers and again, we'rt alone here.

Volunteers are t challenge staff is as big of a chall.

So if anyone is looking for positions and incentives.

They're volunters is how ArtsQuest started.

We've heard from so many volunteers saying we're ba, let's go, but we're going o need more.

This is not going to be any year.

So we're going to this community one more time toe out like they did in the ft Scarnati four and say thisa festival we want and we wao keep going.

Casy, before you go for a , just want to reiterate Musc Fest back on thi year for 2021.

What do you want people tow as they get ready to get tickets and head out to the festival, get your vaccinations, get your tics early, come out and support those vendors, those free performances and let's shoe entire world just how great this town of Bethlehem is.

Wonderful.

Cassie Hilgert from ArtsQu, the president and CEO.

As always, thank you so muh for joining us.

Andest of luck to you.

It seems like it's going te a great year for a great festival.

Let's do it all together.

Thank you for all you're dg to support us.

Absolutely.

We want to thank our guestr being with us today and wet to thank you for joining ur community update on Coronas will be here at 4:00pm each Monday, Wednesday and Fridn PBS.

39 and on the radio at nin.

Those same nights.

WLVT News will be back Friy for with the Greater Lehigh Valley auto dealers Associn to find out why the new and used car market isooming in pandemic.

If you have a question, yon leave at our website PBS39g on social media or you can always give us a call and e a message there.

The phone numbers four eigt four eight two one zero zeo zero eight four PBS39 WLVT News.

I'm Brittany Sweeney CDC.