LEHIGH COUNTY

RENT ASSISTANCE: Renters who were financially impacted by the economic slowdown related to the coronavirus pandemic can now get CARES financial assistance to help with the payment of past-due rent. Applications and helpful information are available from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s website at https://www.phfa.org/pacares/rent.aspx.] PHFA is coordinating the program statewide and the three agencies listed below are processing applications for residents in Lehigh County.

Renters who qualify for the CARES Rent Relief Program may receive assistance equal to 100 percent of their monthly rent up to $750 a month for a maximum of six months of assistance for the time period between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2020. Payments will be made to their landlord on their behalf. Renters or landlords can apply for rent relief for apartment tenants, but renters are responsible for submitting all the documents needed to ensure their eligibility.

The deadline to apply has been extended to Nov. 4, 2020. For more information, visit the Lehigh County website – www.lehighcounty.org.

NORTHAMPTON COUNTY

COUNTY PRISON: The Director of Corrections reports that there are no current cases of COVID-19 at the Northampton County Prison (NCP). Since the beginning of the outbreak in March, 10 inmates at NCP have tested positive for COVID-19. All 10 have finished their quarantine periods.

Eight NCP employees have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic. All eight have finished their quarantine periods and have returned to work.

The prison’s vendor, PrimeCare Medical, is closely monitoring the health of the inmates. Employees and inmates are following guidelines established by PrimeCare Medical to prevent further transmission of the virus. All inmates and employees have their temperatures checked multiple times a day. NCP began universal testing for COVID-19 on July 20.

To protect the health of inmates and staff, volunteers, visitors and tours were banned from the prison March 10. Inmates may still contact their loved ones via phone, tablets or mail.

There are currently 535 inmates in residence at NCP.

DRIVE-THRU TESTING: A COVID-19 drive-through testing site is open at 3100 Emrick Blvd. Bethlehem Township. Hours of operation are Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Tuesday/Thursday from noon to 6 p.m. The site is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. – noon. The drive-through testing center is located in the parking area to the rear of the Coordinated Health building and is separate from patient parking and routine patient care. The majority of patients tested at this site received their results in one to two days.

A physician’s order is not required but to be eligible for testing, individuals must report or display one or more CDC-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-through site is open to everyone, but only residents of Northampton County will receive a free test if they do not have health coverage.

CORONER’S REPORT: As of Oct. 3, data collected by the Northampton County Coroner shows that 285 people have passed away due to COVID-19 in Northampton County (255 Northampton County residents, 30 residents of other counties and states).

As of Sept. 28, the Lehigh County Coroner released data for 55 COVID-19 related deaths of Northampton County residents. Residents: Allen Twp., 1; Bangor, 2; Bath,1; Bethlehem Twp., 59; City of Bethlehem, 31; City of Easton, 40; Forks Twp., 6; Freemansburg, 1; Hanover Twp., 1; Hellertown, 11; Lehigh Twp., 2; Lower Nazareth Twp., 3; Lower Saucon Twp., 2; Moore, 1; Nazareth, 2; Northampton, 3; Palmer Twp., 32; Plainfield Twp., 1; Tatamy, 1; Upper Nazareth Twp., 82; Washington Twp., 21; Williams Twp., 3; Wilson, 3; Wind Gap, 1.

Non-residents: Astoria, NY, 1; Bronx, NY, 1; Bucks County, 4; City of Allentown, 4; Glen Garden, N.J., 1; Lehigh Co., 2; Lopatcong Twp. NJ, 1; Lower Macungie Twp., 1; Millersburg, PA, 1; Monroe County, 6; Montgomery County, 1; Phillipsburg, NJ, 2; Schuylkill County, 1; South Whitehall Twp., 1; Upper Macungie Twp., 1; Washington NJ, 1.

Demographic data for 283 deaths reported by the Northampton County Coroner

The ages of the deceased range from 29 to 106 years.

Average age of the deceased is 83 years

Gender – 53 percent Female, 47 percent Male

Race: 88 percent White, 6 percent African American, 2 percent Asian, 4 percent Hispanic

Demographic data for 55 deaths reported by the Lehigh County Coroner

The ages of the deceased range from 43 to 98 years.

Average age of the deceased is 77.3 years

Gender – 44 percent Female, 56 percent Male

Race: 80 percent White, 16 percent Hispanic, 2 percent African American, 2 percent Filipino, 0 percent Asian

PENNSYLVANIA

EMERGENCY SERVICES GRANTS: The Office of State Fire Commissioner (OSFC) will be awarding $50 million worth of grant funding to fire, rescue and EMS across the commonwealth to offset expenses related to COVID-19.

The purpose of this funding is to provide some much-needed financial assistance to first responders who have found it difficult to keep their operations running due to COVID-19. Of the $50 million in funding set aside for this new program, $44 million will be made available to fire and rescue companies and the remaining $6 million will go to EMS companies.

As stated in Act 26, the money must be used for operational and equipment expenses. Eligible expenses include:

• Operational Expenses – such as but not limited to:

•Utilities

•Insurance

•Apparatus repairs/fuel

•Personal protective equipment

•Lost revenues due to pandemic restrictions

•Expenses for cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting of equipment and property or other expenses incurred to prevent the spread of communicable illnesses.

Program funds must be utilized for eligible expenses initiated on or after March 6 and completed on or before Dec. 30 to be considered as eligible for this grant program.

Grant recipients should expect to receive further communication from OSFC in the coming weeks. A full list of fire companies receiving grant awards, along with the recently updated federal guidance, can be reviewed online by visiting OSFC’s website.

RESTAURANT COMPLIANCE: The Department of Agriculture released data related to COVID-19 restaurant enforcement actions from Sept. 28 through Oct. 4. 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 Sept. 28 through Oct. 4, the Bureau of Food Safety performed 718 total inspections, 19 of which were complaint-driven; nine were COVID-19 specific complaints. The bureau distributed 47 COVID-19 complaint-driven educational letters. Nine COVID-19 related complaints were referred to local and county health jurisdictions. One formal Warning Letter was issued.

A county by county breakdown of COVID-19 restaurant enforcement actions can be found on the Department of Agriculture’s website. The data will be updated weekly, with data from the previous week.

Among other requirements, all businesses in the restaurant and retail food service industry authorized to conduct in-person activities are mandated to:

• Require all customers to wear a mask while entering, exiting, or otherwise traveling through the restaurant or retail food service business (mask may be removed while seated).

• Employees are required to wear masks at all times.

• Provide at least six feet between parties at tables or physical barriers between customers where booths are arranged back to back.

• Ensure maximum occupancy limits for indoor and outdoor areas are posted and enforced.

BACKGROUND CHECKS: The Pennsylvania State Police announced that the third quarter of 2020 was the busiest in the history of the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS). The department also released the number of firearms purchase denials, subsequent investigations, and arrests resulting from such investigations for the period of July 1 through Sept. 30.

Established in 1998, PICS is used by county sheriffs, chiefs of police of cities of the first class, and licensed firearms dealers in Pennsylvania to determine an individual’s legal ability to acquire a license to carry firearms or obtain a firearm through a purchase or transfer. In the third quarter of 2020, PICS completed a record 406,151 background checks. The highest total previously was 369,807, set in the first quarter of 2013.

The highest volume day in the history of PICS was Nov. 24, 2017, when 9,178 checks were completed. The highest volume day in the third quarter of 2020 was July 23, with 7,120 completed PICS checks. The majority of background checks are completed in a matter of minutes without operator assistance.

SMALL BUSINESSES: An additional $96 million in state grants have been approved for 5,373 Pennsylvania small businesses that were impacted by the business closure order due to the COVID-19 public health crisis.

Businesses in every county were approved for grants in this round of funding, and 52 percent are historically disadvantaged businesses.

To date, more than 10,000 businesses were approved for $192 million in grants through the COVID-19 Relief Statewide Small Business Assistance Program.

The COVID-19 Relief Statewide Small Business Assistance funding was developed in partnership with state lawmakers and allocated through the state budget, which included $2.6 billion in federal stimulus funds through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, of which $225 million was earmarked for relief for small businesses.

The Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) distributed the funds to the Pennsylvania Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which are administering the grants.

PLCB COMPLIANCE CHECKS: Pennsylvania State Police Liquor Control enforcement officers visited 246 licensed liquor establishments from Oct.7 through Oct. 8 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 three notices of violation and 21 warnings for failing to follow COVID-19 requirements.

Compliance checks are unannounced and can occur anywhere in the commonwealth, although the focus is on areas experiencing higher coronavirus transmission rates.