Hello and welcome to PBS39.

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

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

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Our guest today include an infectious disease doctor who has helped guide us through this pandemic.

Meals on Wheels, the greater Lehigh Valley they'll both be with us in a moment.

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

The phone numbers 4 8 4 8 2 1 0 0 0 8.

Our guests will answer some of your questions live.

Plus, our daily coronavirus update.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

You can do that at our website coronavirus Lehigh Valley.

.Org.

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

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

Pennsylvania today reported 2594 new coronavirus cases and 43 more deaths.

That brings the total number of infections since last March to more than 955,000 with 24,400 39 deaths.

The state says over 3.1 million vaccinations have been administered through yesterday.

That includes more than 1 million people who have received second doses.

Northampton County is setting up a phone line to help seniors make appointments for Covid-19 vaccinations.

It's for older county residents who don't have a computer or internet access.

Staffers from the area Agency on Aging will answer calls and clinics at the Wind Creek Events Center in Bethlehem.

If you're 65 and up, you can call starting at 8am this Friday.

The phone number 6 108 6 5 7 0 9 2.

Again, that number on your screen is 6 108 6 5 7 0 9 to the phone line will be open and staffed on Friday mornings.

Lehigh Valley Health Network has another mass vaccination clinics set for tomorrow at Dorney Park.

It will be the biggest one yet.

About 3600 people have appointments for first doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

To get a shot, you need an appointment and you need to be in the state.

Phase 1 A This will be the third mass clinic Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom this year.

The first was January 27 when about 1000 people received first doses.

The second included those same patients for their second round.

And finally, call it the luck of the Irish.

Perhaps a spokesperson for Governor Tom Wolf tells penn.

Live that the governor has no plans for any additional restrictions on bars and restaurants heading into St Patrick's Day next week for the bar business.

It's one of the busiest days of the year.

Last state shutdown prevented bars and restaurants from being open on St Patty's Day.

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

Dr Timothy Friel chairs the department of Medicine at Lehigh Valley Health Network and has been one of the region's leading figures in public health since the coronavirus was first confirmed here.

Also with us is Vicki Coyle of Meals on Wheels, an organization now also helping seniors get vaccines.

Thank you both so much.

For joining us today.

Vicki, we will be with you in just a few minutes.

We want to begin today with Dr Freel.

Thanks again for joining us on the show today.

Great to be here again.

Always great to have you, Dr Freel.

It's been a while since we last talked to you and there have been so many promising developments in the last several weeks.

The virus is obviously still a force to be reckoned with, but with lower case counts, hospitalizations and now schools reopened and more vaccines flowing into the market than ever before.

But we actually finally have this thing on the ropes.

That's the big question we want to start with today.

You bet.

It's a question that we're all thinking and I think many of us feel like we can see the light at the end of this tunnel.

Numbers are going down throughout the communities we serve across the entire country.

So that's great.

We're seeing reduced number of new cases, reduce hospitalizations and reduced number of deaths all really, really good things after the many tough months and weeks that we've endured.

So that's great.

The vaccination effort is a is likely a two prime driver of this.

But I think a lot of other factors.

So I'm enthusiastic that we are getting closer.

I just want to continue to remind folks that we need to keep our eyes on the prize better days ahead.

But continue to do the things that we know are going to be helpful to.

We can get ahead of the remaining Covid-19 that's circulating in our communities today.

Sure.

Dr Frail with the nice weather vaccines flowing as I just mentioned, everyone wants this to be over and people are really eager for this.

All right, hurry up.

Let's get this over with.

Is there any concern people are moving a little bit too quickly or should we be concerned about that?

Well, I think it's always a concern and we need to be looking at our behaviors.

We know the things that can protect.

We know the things that can protect other members of our community.

So we're continuing to remind people wearing that mask, social distancing whenever possible.

Getting vaccinated and getting other people excited about vaccines, especially those who might be displaying some hesitancy as we move forward.

I think we know the playbook that we need to follow to get from where we are now to where we really want to be in a few months from now.

I just want to make sure we get to the finish line without tripping, get to the end zone without fumbling to use a few sports analogy.

So, you know, there's a lot of factors that are going to dictate how quickly we achieve that success.

Some is going to be dictated by how we responsible we are over the coming weeks and months.

What happens in not only our local communities but of communities throughout the entire country.

So I do have concerns when I hear about some states pulling back entirely.

All the important measures that they put in place.

I worry that is premature.

And I still think we need to do the commonsense things that we can to control this pandemic.

And the variance we've talked about them before, the, you know, mutant versions of the virus that are circulating in the communities, I truly believe that the next two to four weeks are going to be really telling.

And if we can still remain vigilant and remain careful, I am hopeful that we will be able to avoid an uptick in the number of cases that we're seeing in the region.

In the state and across the country.

We can absolutely hope so.

And Dr Frail area, earlier this week, the CDC came out with New guidelines for people who have been vaccinated saying people who are vaccinated can get together with other people who are vaccinated without a mask.

Could you elaborate on some of those new guidelines for us?

Yes, certainly.

So the CDC revised guidance for those who've been vaccinated was really it was a breath of fresh air and, you know, a figurative shot in the arm for those who had been vaccinated because they finally had some clear guidance about what they could do and could do differently because of that vaccine.

And first and foremost and CDC is now saying that if you're vaccinated, you can go and visit other people who've been vaccinated.

Do that inside or out outside.

And if you're together, you know, whether it's inside or outside, do it without matched the vaccine works.

And it is effective at reducing the risk and making that a much less risky situation.

They've also said that if you're visiting a household or group of individuals, a family that hasn't been vaccinated, that if you're vaccinated, you can do that.

You can be inside with them.

You can take off your mask as long as your sore that those individuals are not at high risk for complications.

We don't call that a zero risk situation, but we call it a lower risk situation.

The CDC does put some constraints on that.

And they do say that if you're going to be visiting a large grave where there's members of more than one household, those households haven't been vaccinated or you don't know how at risk individuals from those households might be based on age or underlying medical conditions.

They are still encouraging you to do the commonsense thing wearing a mask.

Social distancing, optimizing ventilation to reduce the risk to the vulnerable individuals who might be exposed.

People ask, well, why do we have to do this if we're vaccinated?

Well, we know the vaccines are really, really great and they are 100% efficacious, more effective in reducing the likelihood that someone is going to end up in a hospital or die from Covid-19.

So the data thus far is very clear for folks participated in clinical trials who received vaccine.

They have not died of Covid related 19 complications, which is phenomenal.

The efficacy is not 100% at preventing symptomatic disease.

A small number of people might get mild disease or even asymptomatic disease and that percentage of individuals who might become carriers after vaccination.

We're still waiting for that data to help us understand.

And that's why we still have to recognize if we're coming in contact with unvaccinated vulnerable individuals, we need to do our best to keep them protected and reduce the risk to them short.

Dr Frail.

So when it comes to family, so to speak, if grandma or grandpa is vaccinated, they can then see healthy grandchildren.

But maybe the younger parents are vaccinated.

The grandparents are not.

Is that risk still there for them?

The grandparents Gamma You bet.

So grandparents, someone over the age of 65 who has not been vaccinated, they really do need to use caution when they are getting together with other members, whether it's family members or friends.

So we really need to be thoughtful about them.

We know those individuals are at higher risk for ending up in a hospital or in worst case, dying from Covid infection.

So we want to do everything we can right now to protect them until we can get them the opportunity to get vaccinated once they're vaccinatd and two weeks beyond that vaccination.

We consider them fully vaccinated and they too then are afforded the same protection and can feel much more comfortable about these interactions with other members of family and their friends circle.

Sure.

Dr Fowler, just to be clear, so if you are vaccinated, you can still spread it, especially to people who have not been vaccinated yet?

That is correct.

Not 100%.

And I remind people there no vaccines that we have right now that are 100% effective and we know the efficacy is based on the development of symptomatic disease.

We are still waiting for the data about how good these vaccines are at preventing people who are vaccinated from getting asymptomatic disease.

spread to others but have no idea that I'm doing.

The CDC will continue to update its guidelines when more of that data is available.

Great.

And some awesome news from LVHN that you're having another mass vaccination clinic.

The biggest one so far.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

It's happening at Dawnie tomorrow, correct?

So really excited about this.

This will be our second mass vaccination campaign ad during the first one involved a thousand individuals.

They received their first and second doses to, you know, two separate days, four weeks apart they came.

We did a thousand individuals that time we focussed on those over the age of 75.

Earlier this week we opened our schedule and this time we plan to do 30 hundred.

So we're going to have 3600 people in Pennsylvania's Phase 1, a plan.

So that will be those who qualify based on their profession, based on their age over the age of 65 or if they're between the ages of of 18 to 64, if they have one of the chronic medical conditions defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the CDC as increasing their risk for severe Covid outcomes.

Those individuals were capable scheduling those slots.

Again, we recognize so many people are eager to get vaccinated.

And I think that was clear.

We filled up these slots and the slots for our non Drive-Thru sites in less than three hours time.

So it's pretty remarkable.

We put some new things in place though.

In preparing for this.

So we've made a commitment to transparency in our vaccine availability.

So our website is designed right now.

There is a green banner when our vaccination slots are open and people can call or use our online capabilities to begin to schedule their themselves for vaccination.

So people who are appropriate to phase one aid distribution are capable of securing slots during that time.

And when slots fill, we'd let people know the banner changes on our website.

Those who use our app on their phones or their tablets, etc they get notifications when the slots are open and they're also informed when the slots are close.

We recognize we wish we had limited supply.

We still don't, but we don't want people to feel that pressure and stress of constantly feeling like they have to search over and over not knowing whether or not slots are available.

So we're trying to make this better and we're trying to make it easier for folks.

And thankfully, the other thing that's really helping us is a more steady supply of vaccine that's starting to come from the state that's released to Pennsylvania from the federal government and the suppliers of the vaccine.

So we're only hoping that things will continue to get better with each passing week.

Shawn Dr Fauci is going to ask you about that supply.

That's why I say it's good news because you're having this big clinic, which hopefully means you're having a large supply of vaccines flow through the network.

Is that the case in the last few weeks Gamma Yeah.

So I would say the last few weeks have been much better.

We went through a tough spot, as did all health systems throughout the state and other, you know, suppliers of BlackBerry or deliveries of vaccine like our local health bureau, etc.

We had a really tough time in the beginning and middle of February when supply was not as secure.

There were lots national weather related issues that really impacted distribution across the country and even across the state.

And that paired with kind of a change in the vaccination supply created a lot of chaos.

And we recognize that and we've done everything we can to help reduce the impact of that on individuals.

I think we are very hopeful that we're over that rough patch and things are going to get better as we move forward.

So more vaccine coming.

I want to continue to re-assure folks and I do think that we're going to see more and more slots being opened and more and more individuals within our community having the opportunity for vaccination in the very, very short future.

Dr Frail, we have a caller question.

They're wondering if they can get vaccinated at Dorney Park if they're prone to having an allergic reaction to a vaccine in the past.

Yeah.

So it's a really great question.

So first and foremost, I want clarified the vaccine slots for Dorney Park are already filled.

So it is by appointment only.

It is not just stop by.

So I think that is really important.

We have encouraged individuals who have a history anaphylaxis to vaccines or might have had problems with one of the components of the vaccine that we are using to really reach out and talk to their health care provider.

First and foremost, to determine whether or not they think it's safe to proceed with those specific type of vaccines.

And then secondly, if they are vaccinated to do it in a situation where they can be watched for a longer period of time, our Dorney Park Drive-Thru program has been set up to allow people the opportunity, not the opportunity, the requirement to be observed for 15 minutes afterwards.

So we've kind of modified the program that we put in place where our mass vaccination campaigns for influenza where people get their shots and then drive away.

We keep people there under observation for 15 minutes.

So we've reconfigured the parking lot, so to speak, at our site for those who have a history of significant allergy.

We tend to want to watch them a little bit longer.

So we're discouraging folks for using drive throughs like Dawnie for those purposes.

And they really should do it.

One of the more controlled environments where they can stick around for a longer period of time for the required observation.

Dr Freo, we have to move on to our next guests.

But could you quickly just talk a little bit about the visitation at LVHN and how it's changed over the next week?

It's going to change.

Yeah.

So really, really good news.

I know for our community people we've wanted to get people back to the bedside of their loved ones, their friends, etc.

So we have expanded our visitation hours responding to the fact that we're starting to see reduced community levels.

We are still limiting to one visitor per patient between the hours of 12 and eight on our in our hospital services.

There are some exceptions for our mother and baby units, for our pediatric and neonatal intensive karaian at sites as well as our behavioral health programs.

So I encourage people to check out our website for our visitation policies.

But we recognize best care is delivered when people can be at the bedside of their loved ones.

We're really doing our best to do so in a thoughtful way that's protective to the patients we're taking care of and those visitors who are coming into our doors.

Dr Timothy Friel promising sign for sure from Lehigh Valley Health Network.

As always, thank you so much for joining us today.

Happy to be here.

And we continue this community update on coronavirus PBS39.

You can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tonight at 9:30 on 91 three WLVT are.

Now let's bring in our next guest.

Vicki Coyle is executive director of Meals on Wheels.

Of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

These days, they're delivering more than just meals.

The group is teaming up with health bureaus to bring vaccination to homebound seniors.

Vicki, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thrilled to be.

Thank you.

It's great to have you.

This is such a great idea.

Tell us how it came about and what it entails behind you.

Honestly, just kind of popped into my head when I was reading an article by the morning, The Morning Call reporters and he had done a piece on how seniors were concerned about being able to get the vaccine because many of them don't have access to the internet.

They're not comfortable using it.

They may not be as quick on the phone as other folks.

And so the technology was holding people back.

We're within phase one from getting the vaccine.

So I remember saying to myself, well, those are all the meals on Wheels clients and we have about 2000 of those a year.

All of our clients are in phase one.

Their average age is 70.

They suffer between three and five chronic diseases each.

So they're primed for getting the vaccine at this time.

And I just remember seeing myself well.

You know, if somebody did a meal route, they could get anywhere between six or 10 clients at a time delivering meals for us.

And in a week you could get everybody finished.

Of course, that's a little pie in the sky because that doesn't take into account the waiting time after the vaccine to make sure there's no adverse effects ET.

But the basic theory was there.

So I talked to the reporter about it a little bit and then I just followed with both help health departments and threw out there and said maybe this is a crazy idea.

Maybe it's something that'll work.

And Bethlehem Health Department got back to me right away and said no, we have volunteers who are sitting on the sidelines waiting for something to do.

They had trained nursing students, I believe, and they were, you know, basically kind of climbing the walls, waiting to be called into service, wanting to be to feel valuable.

So they're waiting on vaccines to be able to start and then an Allentown health bureau came on and said, we're using our paramedics to do this work.

And so they just did 10 home vaccine yesterday.

So they started the program, I think.

Bethlehem Health Bureau is waiting for more vaccine to come in and they'll get started soon.

But what we do is we have access to easily at this point on service.

About a thousand people who are in Phase 1.

So my staff started to call clients because we have a very good relationship with and started asking folks, do you want the vaccine?

If yes, can we give your contact information to the health bureau and then we do a warm hand-off to the health bureau and the healthier than calls to cause the client to schedule the vaccine.

SHAW And Vicki, how has this program been received by your clients when they hear, you know, we may be able to vaccinate you from the comfort of your own home?

You don't have to leave.

How have they been receiving honestly folks who've been unbelievably emotional about these are people.

I mean, we've all felt trapped in the last year, right?

We no one denies that.

And but these are folks who are homebound and for whatever physical condition they have, they have trouble getting out of their house for any length And now their mobility has been curtailed even more so giving these folks a vaccine is really giving them a sense of hope.

And I don't mean to sound overly dramatic about that, but it is mean.

The second largest part of our service besides the medically tailored meals we provide every day is a social connection with people.

Our volunteers make that social connection with our clients every single day.

And they've done it non-stop during the pandemic.

The volunteers are just more than fabulist.

So when clients you are able to get the vaccine, they're absolutely thrilled.

We had one gentleman who called us up the other day.

Remember these seniors who were targeted for a lot of things.

So a couple of them called them, thought they were being scammed.

When our staff had called up to ask them if they wanted the vaccine and have someone come to their home because they felt vulnerable.

So we sent a letter out following up saying, no, this is legitimate.

You will hear from us and etc.

The client called up and said, do I need to sign and return this letter?

And we said, no, The fact that you called us is enough.

And you said, I can't tell you what this means to me.

I have had 26 chemotherapy treatments.

I suffer from COPD.

I don't sleep at night because I'm I fear for my life.

I feel I will never leave my house again.

This is a godsend.

Thank you so much for doing this.

That's amazing.

That's amazing.

It's a wonderful program that you're bringing to the Lehigh Valley.

Overall, how has this pandemic impacted Meals on Wheels?

It's such a vital program community effort that a lot of people rely on.

Thank you.

You hit the nail on the head when you said community Brittany.

We can't do this without community.

We are about community.

Our volunteers live in the community.

There serving people in the community.

Our staff are from this community.

Everyone does it together.

And this time last year we were panicked because volunteers started to call off duty and not, you know, and they were afraid of getting out.

My kitchen staff was fabulous.

They quickly, you know, got together with our volunteer department and came up with protocols about how to keep our volunteers safe, how to assure clients that, you know, the virus is not going to be transmitted in their food, which they were afraid of.

We gave clients the opportunity to put chairs outside their door if they didn't want to open the door to a volunteer.

So we set up a lot of protocols quickly, but we had a lot of volunteers drop off right away because the average age of our volunteers is about 65 since meal delivery occurs during normal traditional working hours, if you will.

And until those were folks who were afraid that they were in the high risk category.

But we put a call out on social media and with in you know, a week we had people filling those routes and between in the first couple months of the pandemic, we got 300 new brand new volunteers and those folks would just show up, take the mail carrier and the complex network with all the directions and everything.

They had deer in the headlights look.

But they were fantastic.

They went out, they did the routes and I would say almost And still dedicated to this mission.

And then, of course, we had our seasoned volunteers who if they didn't have health issues, did not miss a beat in the last year.

Absolutely.

It's good to hear.

And we don't have a ton of time, but I want to make sure we talk about the March 4 meals program.

It's a month long celebration Can you tell a little bit about that?

Well, that's drastically changed this year.

We used to use local elected officials who would deliver meals and you know, we'd have state legislators or local mayors who deliver to folks.

This year we're not doing that for Covid reasons.

So we've told this story to the legislators.

We've done several mailings to officials and really just talked about what the impact of Meals on Wheels is to folks in the communities specifically people who live in their service areas.

So we've had to change it up a lot.

But basically it's an awareness campaign of what we do and how it affects people we serve great.

And if those who are watching want to get involved with Meals on Wheels, they want to help.

How can they do so?

What are you looking for at this time?

Is it monetary donations, food donations?

Is it volunteers?

How can they help?

How can they get involved?

They can go to our website and they can fill forms to volunteer or they can make a donation on the site.

I would say we don't accept food donations as a whole, but we do accept new volunteers.

We've got a couple programs starting and so we're happy to deploy people in a variety of ways.

Great.

Vicki Coyle, Meals on Wheels executive director, thank you so much for joining us today with that very valuable information.

And we want thank our guests today for being here with us.

We want to thank you for joining us for community update on coronavirus.

We'll be here at 4pm each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on PBS39 and on the radio 9/30, those same nights on WLVT News.

We'll be back Friday at 4:00 with an elementary school teacher to talk about how she's getting ready to welcome back all of her students in person.

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

.Org.

On social media or you can give a call and leave it there.

The phone number is 4 8 for 8 2 1 0 0 0 made for PBS39 and WLVT news, I'm Brittany Sweeney Stacee.

Rootworm.

Dr Freelon, Vicki, thank you so much.