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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Friday, August 07, 2020

Some Good Covid-19 News in NorCo.

The Covid-19 new cases numbers are continuing downward trend, with only 11 new cases on Thursday. NorCo Executive Lamont McClure told County Council last night that only 125 tests have been conducted at the new testing center this far. He considers this decline in interest an indication the virus might be waning,. He noted of those tests conducted, only 2.6% are positive. He did stress repeatedly that we're not out of the woods.

He also defended a new policy that requires county employees who vacation in states designated as hit spots must quarantine themselves. This is understandable, but employees who made deposits and before the enactment of this policy or the designation of these areas as hot spots are going to have to be paid to sit at home. That is only fair. 

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Testing results are a big joke in this country it is a hoax

Anonymous said...

Don't understand this post. The employees will use their vacation days or personal time for pay and this will not cost them or county extra money or loss. What am I missing in this?

Bernie O'Hare said...

What you are missing is that an employee should not be forced to use his vacation days or personal time for a policy enacted AFTER that employee has spent money to make a deposit on a vacation spot. That is outrageously unfair. In many cases these were not even designated hot spots when vacation plans were made. I understand the goal, but any union member who is unfairly forced to use personal or vacation time for a policy that did not even exist when that employee made his or her plans should grieve this abuse. This "policy" will never stand if McClure attempts to use it to penalize workers. In many cases, employees will have no extra personal or vacation days to give and will end up sitting at home with no pay. I appreciate the desire to protect everyone, but employees forced to stay home should be given tasks they can do from home and get paid. If no tasks can be performed, that is on the county.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
"Testing results are a big joke in this country it is a hoax"

Everything is a Hoax these days if you don't agree with it. Trump as brain washed people into thinking this way. Its a Shame ! However, it will change come November.

Patriot2 said...

It is not the county mandating the Quarantine it is our Nazi Governor!!! People can get their deposits back vs asking the county to pay them to sit home

Anonymous said...

True, this has been a bit of a hoax. The numbers being used are greatly exaggerated for effect. Fifty different states, doing 50 different things in the way they report their conditions. Numerous examples of flawed math can be found all over the internet, some reports showing actual documents in proof.

About politics, someone once said “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

Bernie O'Hare said...

Patriot, Of course, the employee should try to get the deposit back first. But as I understand, some outfits are willing to make refunds.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I am not going to host OT comments bashing Biden or Trump. I realize it makes your head hurt but stick to the topic.

Bernie O'Hare said...

If you want to post a comment concerning a "fake news" story, I expect you to (1) post a link so we all can read it; and (2) offer all evidence why it is "fake news," including links to other stories.

Anonymous said...

C - 3
O - 15
R - 18
0 - 15
N - 14
A - 1
__ ___
6 66

Revelation - 13:18
Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast.

Anonymous said...

Under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA), part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), employees may be entitled to paid leave; Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay capped at $511 per day of sick leave taken, where the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined (pursuant to Federal, State, or local government order or advice of a healthcare provider), and/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis.
Employees are not required to use their accrued leave prior to using the EPSLA paid leave. If the employee already exhausted their available leave under EPSLA, they may use any accrued, available sick leave or other leave benefits available to them while they await the test results.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Problem solved.

Anonymous said...

This is a left wing fake blog --landslide is coming

Anonymous said...

Bernie,
I posted the 5:57 comment.
I agree it solves the problem for the first incident of being quarantined, but there will be problems in the future if a worker is in an industry that doesn't allow for remote work.
Using teachers for example; Teacher has one student or colleague that tests positive. Both (and those staff/children they had contact with) must quarantine. They use their EPSLA. They come back and there is another case they are traced as having contact with.
Now they use their benefit days.
The unlucky ones will be those who are involved a third time. Nothing, unless they work remotely.
The remote work is feasible for teachers and office type workers, but what of those who can't work remotely, such as mechanics, grocery workers, retail employees, etc.
There will come a point where people will lie. "I feel fine," "Everyone in my family feels fine," "I didn't travel out of state during the holiday," etc.
They'll have to work to pay the bills. They'll either be in self-denial, or self-survival mode.
When people can't even do something as simple as wear a mask to prevent risking other's health, do we believe they won't put their co-workers at risk?
I know people who have had family members and friends hospitalized, but now post on social media about how the government is infringing on their personal liberties by insisting on masks.

Anonymous said...

Flaw in the law.... quarantined for exposure unable to be prevented I get. But quarantine because you went on vacation against rationale thinking during outbreak should be different. But I guess in writing this no one was thinking of this possibility

Anonymous said...

So three weeks vacation for everyone

Bernie O'Hare said...

"quarantined for exposure unable to be prevented I get. But quarantine because you went on vacation against rationale thinking during outbreak should be different"

If someone schedules a vacation before a state is designated as a hotspot and makes a deposit, I think it's eminently unfair to penalize that person. You seem to think everyone should have ESP.

Patriot2 said...

Not ESP but simply cancel their trip & get a refund due to COVID or use more vacation to Quarantine when you come back. If you self inflict, the employer has no obligation to pay you nor should they.

Anonymous said...

Amen

Anonymous said...

This virus is not a hoax if you are elderly, in a nursing home, or have certain pre-exisiting conditions. For the young and otherwise healthy, it's almost never fatal. Are any Florida Marlins dead or on ventilators? Of course not. Schools should open and kids should be playing sports!

"Never let a crisis go to waste." So Democrat Governors like Wolf, Cuomo, and Murphy have used it to become dictatorial tyrants. Crushing small businesses and crashing the economy. Now they all want to get bailed out by Uncle Sam.

Anonymous said...

The ‘hoax’ in all of this is in the severity of the whole thing. There is such a virus, it’s just that reporting of the ‘numbers’ has been fraudulent. Greatly overstated to strike more fear than necessary in the minds of Americans, and to qualify for emergency government funding. Also, I believe, to help demand for full mail-in voting.

Here’s one interpretation of the scam from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (www.childrenshealthdefense.org) His informative article, dated July 24, 2020, titled If COVID fatalities we 90.2 % less . . . . makes a convincing case to show how this virus scare has been ‘worked’ to maximum effect.

Certainly, many readers will quickly discount this whole piece, but it is certainly worth a read. He’s not just making an unsubstantiated claim. There are links in support.

Bernie O'Hare said...

There is plenty of evidence that the reporting on Covid-19 numbers from state department of health have been incorrect, confused and lack transparency. I have written numerous stories about it, thanks to Steve Thode. Moreover, there have been numerous stories in other publications. Where you go wrong and totally defeat yourself is when you suggest fraud and some sort of conspiracy is involved. That's sheer nonsense and the real hoax is when people like you uncritically parrot this crap. Try using your head for once. Of course the government reporting is wrong. States and the feds were totally unprepared and caught off guard. This includes your hero. Government has a tendency to screw things up by its very nature. When were you born that you don't know that? If you want to assert fraud, you better have cold hard facts. You don't.

Anonymous said...

OK, Bernie. Where does one go for facts these days? All we can do is read, listen, and uncover our own truth.

The problem comes when someone limits themselves to just a few sources for their knowledge. As for parroting what someone else said, that’s just about all any one of us can do, isn’t it? We are not directly involved, or present when something goes down.We can, however, add source information (like I did here) so that others can come to their own conclusions. Not rely on some media news reader on radio or tv.