A protester sits in her car during yesterday’s demonstration outside City Hall in Philadelphia. The protesters halted traffic to call on the city to demand inmates be released during the coronavirus spread. (Image courtesy Decarcerate PA)
Courtesy Decarcerate PA
Courtesy Decarcerate PA
A protester sits in her car during yesterday’s demonstration outside City Hall in Philadelphia. The protesters halted traffic to call on the city to demand inmates be released during the coronavirus spread. (Image courtesy Decarcerate PA)
Courtesy Decarcerate PA
A protester sits in her car during yesterday’s demonstration outside City Hall in Philadelphia. The protesters halted traffic to call on the city to demand inmates be released during the coronavirus spread. (Image courtesy Decarcerate PA)
Shutdowns continue: As of Monday, Pennsylvania has at least 4,087 people who tested positive for coronavirus. Just about every county in the state has at least one case at this point, and the governor issued stay-at-home orders for an additional four counties. A third of the state is now on complete lockdown. But what does that mean, exactly? It’s simple: Don’t go out except for groceries, walking your pets or exercising outdoors. PennLive published the governor’s suggestions here. And no, there are still no barbers or salons opening to cut your hair. We’re all gonna be shaggy together, Pennsylvania.
Gov’t layoffs: Over the weekend, Spotlight PA reported that the state government laid off 2,500 workers last week. Layoffs are happening at local governments, too. The Reading Eagle reports that a Berks County commissioner said “the county is finalizing the number of workers who will be furloughed and how long the furlough will last. He said those details will be released to the public Wednesday afternoon when the commissioners host a live town hall to outline what the county is doing to address the coronavirus and unveil how local government will function during April and May.”
Disaster declaration: Last night, the White House announced that President Trump has signed off on Gov. Tom Wolf’s request for a major disaster declaration for all of Pennsylvania. The move qualifies the state for more support from the federal government.
Northeast Pa. troubles: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is scouting locations for temporary hospitals to handle the growing number of cases in Monroe County. Dormitories at East Stroudsburg University could be an option. Meanwhile, locals in the counties nearest to New York City are voicing concerns about New Yorkers choosing to shelter at their second homes in the Poconos.
Waiver? What’s a waiver? Despite being told to halt all production, a company formerly owned by Gov. Tom Wolf that makes kitchen cabinets continues to be doing business, as our Ed Mahon and Angela Couloumbis from Spotlight PA discovered. A waiver was given to the company, but then was rescinded after our reporters started asking questions. But the company continues to do business, with the company’s CEO telling us: “The waiver doesn’t mean anything…We didn’t need a waiver.”
Schooool’s Out. For. Ever. As of today, in-person K-12 classes have been cancelled until April 30, a little over a month before the scheduled end of the 2019-2020 school year. Schools are still required to make a good faith effort to provide an education to students. For Keystone Crossroads, WHYY looked at how the school closures have put a strain on families where resources are already diminished. And an essay in The Hechinger Report shows that these changes aren’t working well with parents nationwide, and they need help, too.
Honk for justice: Dozens of protesters took to their cars in Philadelphia to demand the release of non-violent prisoners across the state. The protests echoed frustrations from prisoner advocates and progressive prosecutors, such as Philly District Attorney Larry Krasner, who have all said that the state is moving too slow. There has been one confirmed case of COVID-19 in the state’s prison system, and a handful of cases in county jails. The Morning Call covered the ACLU’s efforts to force the state and counties to act faster. The paper’s story notes that jails began lowering their inmate totals weeks ago: Lehigh County’s “jail and center have 1,267 beds available, [Lehigh County Director of Corrections Janine Donate] said, and the prisoner count is 622. Over the last two weeks, 75 inmates who were awaiting trial were either released or not booked into the jail, said Maureen McManus, Executive Director of Lehigh County Pretrial Services. Similar reductions have been made at Northampton County Jail. … Ten inmates were released through bail modifications and other methods last week alone, Reynard said. The prison has 954 beds and only 650 inmates as of Friday.”
Escape from NYC:The drive to limit jail populations comes from what’s happening in NYC at Rikers Island, where the infection rate is higher than the city’s and 85 times higher than the nation’s. Multiple states have started or have considered doing this, including most recently Michigan and Washington. But the inequalities in how people are jailed, specifically with cash bail and parole violations, have exposed how hard it is for states to adapt an old system to a pandemic, reported The Texas Observer.
Reducing the spread among drug users: As food pantries close and shelters start limiting people going through its doors, syringe exchange locations seem to be the last few places where people can get accurate and useful information on how to avoid the spread of COVID-19 among the state’s most vulnerable. Aneri Pattani for Spotlight PA reports on how needle exchange programs – though technically illegal – have been allowed to stay open since they are considered life-sustaining (opioid withdrawal can lead to death, and dirty needles used for injecting drugs can also be lethal or result in hospitalization) and how they’re relaying to users to keep the virus from spreading.
Other Pa.reads:
Spotlight PA: Laid off workers battle outages, jammed phone lines as Pa. unemployment system buckles from coronavirus surge
The Morning Call: We asked Lehigh Valley residents to find their pandemic footprint. Here’s what they reported.
Philly Mag: A South Philly Photographer Is Documenting Philadelphians at Home During Coronavirus
Gettysburg Times: Many students call seminary campus home
Post-Gazette: Travel industry was flying high, then COVID-19 grounded the world
The Inquirer: A Cherry Hill man with COVID-19 hopes for experimental plasma treatment
PennLive: A Harrisburg woman, 36, battles coronavirus in hospital: ‘A lot of younger people are catching it’
U.S. Navy photo by Eddie Green
Dr. Andrew Schicho, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division mechanical engineer, led one of the five teams by building a ventilator prototype in support of the Department of Defense Hack-a-Vent Innovation Challenge. (U.S. Navy photo by Eddie Green)
“We definitely saw the problem”: Why is there such a shortage of ventilators? Turns out, it was something that disease experts flagged as a problem almost a decade ago. The government spent millions of dollars to help private companies develop low-cost ventilators for the national stockpile, but no ventilators had been made. Both the The New York Times and ProPublica report on why the effort to enlist hiring private companies to do public work stalled the delivery of life-sustaining medical equipment. There’s a Pennsylvania connection, as ProPublica reports.
Anti-malaria drug vs. COVID-19: The much-talked-about anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was touted by the president and featured on a Fox New segment as a possible remedy for COVID-19. But so far there have been no tests to prove that the drug is effective in combating the virus. But the Food and Drug Administration widely released the use of hydroxychloroquine yesterday, saying that the benefits could outweigh the negatives. Patients with heart problems or who take anti-depressants are advised not to take the drug, as it can cause heart attacks. But the risk in this wide release is the probability of millions of people attempting to use the drug and then causing cardiac arrests. From The Washington Post piece: “The concern really is if we’re talking millions of patients, then this issue of drug-induced sudden cardiac death is absolutely going to rear its ugly head.” (We’ll repost this ProPublica piece from Sunday: What We Know — and Don’t Know — About Possible Coronavirus Treatments Promoted by Trump.)
More notable reads:
Wired: A Wearable for Opioid Patients Gets Retooled for Covid-19
TeenVogue: The Term “Chinese Virus” Could Cause Damage Like “Gay-Related Immune Deficiency” Did During the AIDS Crisis (by yours truly)
GQ: Fashion Designers Are Struggling to Make Masks. Here’s Why.
Los Angeles Times: A choir decided to go ahead with rehearsal. Now dozens of members have COVID-19 and two are dead
Finally, from the “you can’t make this up” file: John Oliver really wants to buy a York artist’s erotic rat painting once sold on WITF (PennLive); and John Oliver wants York artist’s painting, offering $1K and $20K donation to local food bank (York Daily Record). FYI, WITF doesn’t know where the art or artist can be found; let us know if you do!
