Last week, Bethlehem Mayor Bob Donchez' updated city residents on City operations in the wake of Covid-19. In addition to his own presentation, he had Department Heads Kristen Wenrich (Health) Bob Novatnack (Emergency Management) Alicia Karner (Community and Economic Development), Mike Alkhal ( of Public Works) and Eric Evans (Finance) on hand for their own presentations. Last night, Wenrich (Health) and Novatnack (Emergency Management) updated City Council as well. All were informative, but I was particularly impressed by Wenrich.
Wenrich reports that, as of Monday, Bethlehem has had 376 Covid-19 cases, 39 of which required hospitalization (about 20% of those infected). Three people have died. She indicated that if a person in a household tests positive, and another member of the family becomes symptomatic, it will be presumed that person has Covid-19 as well.
She indicated 45.7% of those infected are non-Hispanic, and the average age is 46.9 years. Although the numbers have declined, she warned that testing has gone down as well.
According to Weinrich, the Covid-19 numbers in Allentown "are going through the roof." In fact, she said Lehigh County currently has the highest incident rate in the state. She remarked this is bad news for the Lehigh Valley because both Lehigh and Northampton will be lumped together in deciding what areas should be re-opened.
Willie Reynolds said the pandemic has made clear that many city residents live paycheck to paycheck, and credited Mayor Bob Donchez for some of the steps he's taken, like the delay in payment of taxes as well as the grant program for small businesses. He sponsored a resolution that would challenge the City with creative solutions to help everyone with items like universal broadband throughout the City. His resolution passed unanimously.
50 comments:
The numbers going through the roof in Allentown shouldn't be cause for much alarm. Just open everything up - everyone in the pool, and open all the restaurants. It's all about the economy, and who cares if we have a second wave that makes the first one look like a ripple?
The numbers can't be trusted. Levine announced today she has added more than 300 deaths to the body count. Why? Because the powers-that-be now say anyone who died as a result of a "virus-related" cause is now part of the official body count even when the deceased did not test positive for the virus. Levine did not define a "virus-related cause." Could be pneumonia. Could be diabetes. Could be obesity. Could be emphysema. Could be anything Wolfie wants it to be. Why inflate the numbers? 1) Extend the lockdown even further; 2) Try to get a bigger slice of Federal money; 3) The "party of science" thinks it's good for them to ruin the economy as much as possible.
Let’s all go to NYC for the weekend.
It’s all the rage in contemporary Allentown.
Doc Rock is exactly correct. All the numbers we read are pumped up numbers. The method used to state numbers, since the very beginning, has been very loose. Not just locally, but all around the nation.
Yes, people are becoming ill, and some are dieing from this event labeled COVID-19, but the severity of this might not be different than other flu-like respiratory events in recent years.
509 is the definition of stupid: an unfixable condition
7:05, too bad you don’t have the maturity and intellect to rebut those claims in greater detail. All you have given readers is more name calling. Do you have anything more to share without name calling?
Why has Allentown "gone through the roof"?
Why doesnt Willie propose something that will really help people and businesses, a tax cut. Nobody gives a shit about universal broadband.
802 The FACT is we are in the midst of a global pandemic which asshats like you think is the flu.
For those who think the the virus numbers are all hype: I can't ever recall in my lifetime seeing bodies being loaded in the backs of truck trailers because of the flu.
39 of 376 is 10%, not 20%. Just saying!
The bottom line is our political leaders fucked the country good this time-it will take years to get over it and for some they will never get over it--but the political class and medical people will survive and get even betterrr
5:09 wrote:
"Yes, people are becoming ill, and some are dieing from this event labeled COVID-19, but the severity of this might not be different than other flu-like respiratory events in recent years."
Two people I knew have died. Another's partner died. I don't know anybody who died from the flu.
Bodies are being stored in refrigerator trucks in NYC.
Some hospitals there have converted every floor to an ICU.
Medical personnel are overwhelmed.
Even if I choose not to believe what doctors and scientists say, from these facts alone I can conclude that this is far worse than any seasonal flu.
Like you, I don't want this to be true. Unfortunately the facts are undeniable.
Is "the party of science" supposed to be an insult?
9:33, read more carefully. The terms used were FLU-LIKE respiratory events. The expected mortality rate here is expected to finish at the same level as as some seasonal flu seasons. It’s already very close in mortality rate, no matter what this event is called. You are trying too hard to be indifferent.
Doc, Both parties will seek out the "science" that fits their narrative. Don't be naïve. Take climate change and hydraulic fracturing as examples. Both have been used as political footballs for all the wrong reasons.
You make valid points, just tone down the rhetoric to clean up the message.
"Is "the party of science" supposed to be an insult?"
April 22, 2020 at 9:50 AM
I think ironic is the word.
Lots of comments removed. What's the issue? Truth hurts?
There is plenty of evidence that social limits, wearing masks, school closings work and limitations on assembly are effective in dealing with pandemics. There is no scientific evidence that lockdowns work. In fact the evidence is to the contrary. https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2020/04/62572/
So when someone beats his breast and claims he is listening to the science, he really should oppose draconian lockdowns.
I deleted a few comments. Some were all caps. Some were obviously bigoted and divisive.
Ok.
"For those who think the the virus numbers are all hype: I can't ever recall in my lifetime seeing bodies being loaded in the backs of truck trailers because of the flu."
Flu deaths like all other deaths before the Super Tuesday Virus the funerals ran on time, as were public obituaries to inform mourners of calling hours and such.
You need to store the bodies now, and hold up funeral announcements, so when the bodies are released the newspapers look full of deaths. The spare refrigeration trucks are temporary adjustments to the disruption to the funeral industry not an indication of an increased death rate.
The toilet paper effect cuts through all industries, the logic you are using would indicated Americans are having serious bowel problems to explain the TP shortages.
@9:58
We are in agreement that the mortality rate isn't well understood. I'm not sure the mortality rate is the key metric, nor is the number of asymptomatic cases, even though it would help to have a better understanding of both. The concern as I understand it is the number of people who will get sick enough to require to require hospitalization, and whether there is enough hospital capacity to treat them.
It would be nice to see more media coverage of projected and actual hospital needs to date, and robust discussion of models projecting what the needs will be under different re-opening scenarios.
There is of course no question that the economy needs to re-open as soon as possible. The question is how to do it in a way that's safe and sustainable and won't prolong the economic pain with a second wave that's worse, and requires a second shutdown.
When to open should be a decision guided by reason and science, rather than by our armchair epidemiology, and it's not an easy question. Re-opening, whenever it happens, will lead to more cases, which tragically will lead to more deaths. But prolonging the shutdown also damages public health. Our leaders have to choose the least worst option, I don't envy them that choice. The least we can do for them is to acknowledge the hard truth that there isn't a perfect solution.
Progressives who like to cite the human toll of economic realities have been found out here. This is not about caring. This is about control. The people who have Gracedale FUBAR are telling us how to react in this crisis? Are you serious?
The numbers are bad, but not trending much worse than the '14-'15 and '17-'18 flu seasons, which were very bad. We didn't lock down though. And we should likely wear masks for every future flu season.
In Bethlehem today it was many people walking around with no masks. No distancing.
Sadly this is what happens when the extreme left and right people control the agenda. No common sense. People trying to prove their pointless point of view.
Time to get back to the moderate common sense leaders. The I want everything for free crowd and the flat earthers are screwing up the country.
Given the goofy color system moronic Wolf just rolled out with the guy parading in a dress, some counties aren't opening anytime soon. Ridiculous. Harmful. Thoughtless. Mean.
Darn those who just won't listen to a comically incompetent Wolf and his guy in a dress sidekick. Respect is earned. They are not respected.
Bethlehem has not put any employees on layoff despite several departments essentially not functioning like DCED. Virtually every business in the city has cut salaries & furloughed employees. Easton has furloughed 30%. Bethlehem is acting like nothing is happening with regard to their revenues or they are counting on feds to bail them out.
I see the homophobe' and the transphobes are still at it. The "guy in a dress" type jokes are really getting old. As are your penis challenged ways. You can pretend you say it because Dr. Levine "looks unhealthy" which is pure Bullshit from O'Hare covering his lying tracks.
The truth is she is a doctor and you aren't. Continue making fun of a real professional you have a safe place to hate on this blog.
Nah. Calling a man in a dress a man in a dress is not phobic in any way. It's a rational observation made by those who think indulging mental illness is a cruel path, and not treatment. Dick may be gone, but indulging his illness dissevers future mentally ill who might also be so troubled, they'll actually lop off their genitals and attempt to grow breasts. Also, Dick is completely in over his head with this crisis. In any gender, Dick has failed.
"Some hospitals there have converted every floor to an ICU"
that's simply untrue
Deleted a few more comments from a Wolf apologist who attacks everyone who disagrees with him. I kept one comment in which he suggests I am a homophobe bc I dislike Dr. Levine. I admit I do not like to see two guys kiss. If that is a form of homophobia, I plead guilty. I am trying to overcome my disdain for open expressions of affection between two gay guys. I believe all people should have the same rights and privileges, regardless of sexual orientation. I also understand that some men may want to become women and vice versa.
My objection to Dr. Levine is that she is very unhealthy looking and should not be the face of Pa. Health. She looks as though she has dietary issues. I have battled weight my entire life and do not consider myself a picture of health when I am obese. She clearly has some eating issues. Yet she was running the eating disorder clinic at Hershey, which certainly strikes me as odd.
Another problem I have with Dr. Levine is that being an MD in no way by itself qualifies her as an expert on pandemics. She is well educated as a pediatrician and psychiatrist but not as an infectious disease expert or public health expert. I'd agree she is far more qualified than a layperson.
I have no doubt she is sincere and very well-meaning. She clearly identifies as a woman and expresses herself like a woman. I have no problem with how she sees herself and do not hold that against her. But she is an unhealthy person. I resist taking medical advice from anyone - male, female or transgender - who is himself or herself unhealthy.
I have allowed comments attacking her bc she is a high-ranking public official and that goes with the territory.
@5:38 a.m.:
What's your source on your statement that my statement was "simply untrue"?
That information came to me from a friend whose brother is a doctor in one of those facilities. Via Google just now I found the following:
"3. New York City's public hospital system will convert all of its facilities to intensive care units to accommodate the surge of coronavirus patients expected by the end of April, officials told The New York Times. The public health system expects to need an additional 65,000 hospital beds, as well as enough staff for them, by the end of the month, which is when the state is expected to reach peak patient volumes.
Patients without COVID-19 will be sent to temporary hospitals or to hotels that are being transformed into temporary healthcare facilities. The city has secured 10,000 beds from 20 hotels, officials told the Times."
Source: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/new-york-city-s-public-health-system-to-convert-all-facilities-into-icus-20-other-updates-from-the-6-hardest-hit-states.html
@6:08, I believe comparing COVID-19 deaths to flu deaths is overly reductive, as that lone statistic doesn't convey the differences between those illnesses and the respective interventions against them. One key difference is that many people have immunity to the flu. COVID-19 is new and highly transmissible and there is far less immunity. Also, bear in mind that COVID-19 deaths may be substantially lower as a result of interventions, i.e. social distancing, that were not implemented vs. the flu. We'll know better if that's true as we see what happens in countries that took less aggressive interventions, i.e. Sweden, vs. what happens in the US.
I do not pretend to fully understand this but it is obvious from what I've personally observed that what we are going through something far more serious and deadly than a bad flu season.
as of 1 April, NYC had contingency plans to convert all of their public health facilities (a far cry from all of their hospitals) to ICU units. This would create the additional 65,00 hospital beds they projected they might need.
the fact is, as bad as it's been in new york city, their system is not at capacity. to date a total of thirty five thousand people have been hospitalized, and most of those have not been put in the ICU.
it's bad, certainly, and new yorkers are dying at a rate double their seasonal statistical norm, but we're not at capacity, and not close to being overwhelmed.
One word. Casino.
'My objection to Dr. Levine is that she is very unhealthy looking and should not be the face of Pa. Health. She looks as though she has dietary issues. I have battled weight my entire life and do not consider myself a picture of health when I am obese. She clearly has some eating issues.'
You are covering your tracks. So in your opinion Ms. Vargo-Hefner should not be the face of county council because you see her as unhealthy and obese? You opened this can of worms. Fess up.
I missed something. Is Vargo Heffner running a county public health department?
This is why I delete this asshole. He makes illogical arguments. What I questioned was whether Dr. Levine should be the face of Pa. public health. I never said she could not be the face of Pa. Similarly, I see no reason why Vargo-Heffner could not be the face of County Council. Your decision to bring up her weight to make an illogical point just proves how ugly you are.
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