At the July 16 meeting, Northampton County Council members voted unanimously to approve what Executive Lamont McClure calls his pandemic protection program.

The program is a three-pronged attack aimed at both reducing community spread of COVID-19 while providing some assistance to school districts with online learning and is funded through part of the $27.5 million Northampton County recently received in CARES Act funding.

Lehigh County received $33 million and is currently formulating its own relief plan.

The three prongs include broadband access, drive-thru testing and universal testing at the county prison.

Northampton County Council approved $825,000 in grants for broadband access. The school districts of Bethlehem, Easton, Bangor, Northampton and Nazareth will each receive $100,000, while $50,000 each will go to the schools districts of Wilson, Saucon Valley and Pen Argyl.

Northampton County Department of Human Services will use $175,000 to purchase wireless Internet annual vouchers and electronic equipment for underserved senior citizens and veterans within the county.

McClure told council school districts have large percentages of students who either completely lack or have spotty Internet access.

“We have a chance to really make a difference in the lives of these students,” he said.

Are parochial and charter school students being left out? Not so, said council member Kerry Myers, who at one time served on and presided over the Easton Area School Board. He indicated the district will be required to assist all students who reside in the districts.

Some Northampton County students are in Northern Lehigh and Catasauqua school districts. McClure indicated they would be served as well.

McClure added many seniors and veterans with limited incomes need Internet access as well.

Council approved $300,000 for a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site for Northampton County residents displaying at least one symptom of the coronavirus. McClure and Northampton County Department of Community and Economic Development organized a partnership with Lehigh Valley Hospital-Coordinated Health Allentown Hospital to set up the site, which will be located at 3100 Emrick Blvd., Bethlehem.

No prescription is required, but, to be eligible for testing, individuals must report or display one or more of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-recognized symptoms of COVID-19: fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat or loss of taste and/or smell.

The drive-thru testing site will be open to everyone, but only residents of Northampton County are eligible to have the cost covered by the county if they do not have health coverage.

All testing will be through HNL Lab Medicine unless insurance requires an alternate laboratory. Participants should bring photo identification and their insurance card, if they have one.

The importance of increased testing is that it enables public health officials to trace an infected person’s contacts and ask them to quarantine themselves for 14 days. Increased testing will yield an additional spike in cases but, in the long run, reduce community spread.

Northampton County Council approved a resolution to allocate $200,000 in CARES Act funds for a proactive testing program for COVID-19 at the Northampton County Prison. On July 7, the CDC recommended universal testing for jails and prisons. The Department of Corrections will coordinate with Prime Care Medical to develop a plan to test inmates and staff.

Noting that the jail is currently COVID-19-free, McClure warned, “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

McClure indicated he may want to perform antibody testing on corrections officers, which may indicate at least a few months of immunity.