BETHLEHEM

SPECIAL NEEDS FUNDING: Bethlehem Area School District is one of four Lehigh Valley districts to receive grants totaling $242,000 to heighten educational services for students with special needs who may be negatively impacted by COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

The following school districts received Governor’s Emergency Education Relief grants:

• Bethlehem Area School District: $177,268

• Catasauqua Area School District: $13,525

• Salisbury Township School District: $28,553

• Whitehall-Coplay School District: $23,423

The grants may be used to provide enhanced real-time instruction to bolster remote services and supports for students with complex needs; and provide services and support to students with disabilities who experienced a loss in skills and behavior and/or a lack of progress due to the mandatory school closures.

STEELSTACKS: The Frank Banko Cinema is reopening Aug. 26. For details, visit the SteelStacks website.

MORAVIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Join us Aug. 28 on the Whitefield House lawn for an evening of music with Rameen Shayegan. Shayegan performs an electrifying blend of tunes spanning from folk and bluegrass to acoustic renditions of stripped-down radio classics. In addition, Dick Boak, retired Martin Guitar archivist, will be signing his new book, Ink.

Ticket price provides an 8x8 square on the lawn, which can seat up to four people. Guests need to bring a blanket or chair and are encouraged to bring a picnic dinner.

Advanced tickets required. Visit the society’s website for details.

NORTHAMPTON COUNTY

SMALL BUSINESS GRANTS: At the Northampton County Council meeting Aug. 20, Lamont McClure reported that the Department of Fiscal Affairs has distributed $4 million in Small Business Assistance Grants (SBA) to 302 Northampton County businesses and urged council to fund an additional 358 businesses with $4.7 million. The money would come from the $27.6 million in CARES Act funds. Applications for SBA grants are reviewed by a committee that includes three members of council.

PENNSYLVANIA

CONTACT TRACING: Case investigations, contact tracing efforts, and ongoing monitoring are proven public health strategies to contain the spread of diseases and are necessary to identify any instances of community spread and prevent larger outbreaks of COVID-19.

There are currently 1,205 contact tracing staff working with local and county health entities to respond to COVID-19 cases; 955 are trained and executing calls and an additional 250 are being hired and onboarded through a partnership with Insight Global.

From June 25 to July 24, there were 22,989 COVID-19 cases and 375 case investigators across the commonwealth. More than 68 percent of these cases had a completed case investigation within 24 hours of receiving their positive COVID-19 test result. The vast majority of the remaining cases had a complete investigation within 48 hours of their positive COVID-19 test result.

Of the completed case investigations, there were 588 contact tracing staff assigned to trace the 14,101 named close contacts during a case investigation across the state. The contact tracing staff assigned also include those who perform both case investigations and contact tracing.

LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY STAFF: In response to concerns from frontline workers, the state Secretary of Health has issued an order requiring long-term care facilities to take additional steps to protect their staff and residents from COVID-19.

The order requires nursing homes, personal care homes, assisted living residences and private intermediate care facilities to develop, implement and adhere to policies and procedures to procure and distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) to staff providing direct care to COVID-19 positive residents by Thursday, Aug. 27.

CHILD CARE PROVIDERS: Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Teresa Miller released a Penn State University study of COVID-19’s impact on Pennsylvania’s child care industry. The study, completed by researchers at Penn State Harrisburg’s Institute of State and Regional Affairs, includes recommendations for distribution of a third round of CARES Act funding to ensure that this critical sector remains financially solvent and available to provide safe and high-quality child care to Pennsylvania’s working families.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, 7,017 licensed child care providers were operating in Pennsylvania. As of late July, more than 200 of those providers have indicated an intention to permanently close their doors.

Penn State’s study estimates about 1,000 additional providers are at risk of closure without financial assistance to offset ongoing costs of implementing COVID-19 guidelines and reduced enrollments.

FRONT LINE WORKERS HAZARD PAY: Governor Tom Wolf announced the recipients of $50 million in grants to help employers provide hazard pay to employees in life-sustaining industries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program, announced last month, was created to keep front-line employees working in vital industry sectors across Pennsylvania.

Grant funds can be used for hazard pay for direct, full-time and part-time employees earning less than $20/hour, excluding fringe benefits and overtime for the 10-week period from Aug. 16, 2020 through Oct. 24, 2020. Employers applied for up to $1,200 per eligible full-time equivalent (FTE) employee, up to 500 eligible full-time equivalent employees per location.

RESTAURANT INSPECTIONS: The Department of Agriculture released data related to COVID-19 restaurant enforcement actions from Aug. 10 to 16. The information is specific to COVID-19 mitigation requirements for restaurants, including social distancing, masking, and occupancy limits.

These numbers include actions taken during routine food safety inspections and inspections prompted by consumer complaints.

From Aug. 10 to 16, the Bureau of Food Safety performed 637 total inspections, 31 of which were complaint-driven, nine were COVID-19 specific complaints. The bureau distributed 105 COVID-19 complaint-driven educational letters. Four COVID-19 related complaints were referred to local and county health jurisdictions. A county by county breakdown of COVID-19 restaurant enforcement actions can be found on the Department of Agriculture’s website.

Consumers with general food safety complaints or concerns about non-compliance for COVID-19 mitigation can file a report online.

UNEMPLOYMENT: Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was up one-half of a percentage point over the month to 13.7 percent in July. The national rate fell 0.9 percentage points from June’s level to 10.2 percent. The commonwealth’s unemployment rate increased by 9.3 percentage points from July 2019, while the national rate was up 6.5 points over the year.

Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force – the estimated number of residents working or looking for work – was up 88,000 over the month due to gains of 44,000 in both resident employment and unemployment.

Pennsylvania’s total nonfarm jobs were up 97,900 over the month to 5,525,900 in July. Jobs increased in seven of the 11 industry supersectors. The largest gain was in leisure and hospitality, up 47,100 jobs from June, which accounted for nearly half of the total nonfarm job increase.

Over the year, total nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania were down 541,900 with declines in 10 of the 11 supersectors. The largest 12-month change among supersectors was a decline of 167,800 jobs in leisure and hospitality.

DAIRY FARM RELIEF: Nearly $13.5 million of the $15 million CARES Act-funded Dairy Indemnity Program is still available for farmers to claim in direct relief payments.

Any dairy farm that experienced financial losses due to discarded or displaced milk during the COVID-19 emergency disaster may apply for assistance. In addition to farms directly affected, farms that did not have displaced milk but have had COVID-19-related fees assessed on their milk check may also apply. Each farm with a documented loss will receive a minimum of $1,500 and can apply for an additional prorated share of the remaining funds, not to exceed the actual amount assessed by the handler. The deadline to apply for the Dairy Indemnity Program is Sept. 30, 2020.

For information as it relates to agriculture during COVID-19 mitigation in Pennsylvania, visit agriculture.pa.gov/COVID. For the most accurate, timely information related to health in Pennsylvania, visit on.pa.gov/coronavirus.

PLCB COMPLAINTS: Pennsylvania State Police Liquor Control Enforcement Officers visited 1,170 licensed liquor establishments from Wednesday, Aug. 19 through Thursday, Aug. 20 to ensure businesses are abiding by COVID-19 mitigation requirements that include social distancing, masking, and other health and safety requirements of the liquor code.

Liquor Control Enforcement Officers issued four notices of violation and 30 warnings for failing to follow COVID-19 requirements

Complaints regarding licensees not complying with COVID-19 mitigation mandates may be directed to the BLCE at 1-800-932-0602 or reported through the BLCE’s online complaint form.

FEDERAL

POST OFFICE ELECTION WEBSITE: As part of its ongoing effort to ensure that voters and election officials have the information they need to successfully use the U.S. mail to vote in the November general elections, the U.S. Postal Service has launched a new Election Mail website. The website, which provides clear and concise information about voting by mail, is available 24/7 by going to: usps.com/votinginfo.