Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons speaks during a news conference at the Lancaster County Public Safety Training Center on Thursday, May 14, 2020. (Photo: Tim Stuhldreher) Lancaster County and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health have announced a press conference at 1 p.m. Thursday to discuss their joint efforts on vaccine distribution In a Facebook post…
Information About Covid-19 Coronavirus in Lancaster County, PA
Nonprofits in Lancaster’s CRIZ eligible for Covid-19 grants
The areas in green, purple, orange and yellow designate sections of Lancaster city’s CRIZ. (Source: City of Lancaster) Lancaster’s City Revitalization & Improvement Zone program, in cooperation with Recovery Lancaster, is accepting applications this week for $3 million in Covid-19 assistance grants. While the CRIZ is mainly intended to assist for-profit businesses and promote development,…
News: Wednesday, Jan. 27
(Source: Elizabethtown College) Headlines: • Lancaster County residents traveling to neighboring counties for Covid-19 vaccinations: With frustration rising over Lancaster County’s vaccine distribution, some residents are traveling elsewhere. (Source: LNP) Lancaster County officials say they are planning a mass vaccination site but that health systems are responsible for their own vaccine appointment scheduling. (Source: LNP)…
As demand outstrips Covid-19 vaccine distribution, Gov. Wolf, other officials urge patience, promise improvement
Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam speaks at a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2020. (Source: Pa.gov) Gov. Tom Wolf and state health officials pledged on Tuesday to improve Pennsylvania’s coronavirus vaccine rollout, but said the No. 1 constraint, the supply of vaccine coming from the federal government, is outside their control.…
United Way’s ALICE report shows widespread economic fragility as Covid-19 hit
These color-coded maps show percentages by county, left, and municipality, right, of households below the ALICE minimum survival budget. (Source: United Way of Pa.) When the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Pennsylvania last spring, it swept a state where many low-income working households were already struggling. In Lancaster County, just over one-third of households, 34%, did…
News: Tuesday, Jan. 26
Pa. Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, left, and U.S. Rep. Scott Perry Headlines: • Hempfield High School going virtual through Wednesday: The school announced Monday that it would be moving to a two-day virtual learning format after nine positive cases of Covid-19 were identified in the high school over the last 14 days. (Source: LNP)…
State makes photo ID free to homeless Pennsylvanians
(Source: PA.gov) Beginning today, homeless individuals in Pennsylvania can obtain photo identification from state driver license centers for free. Individual must apply in person “and must meet identification and other requirements,” the state Department of Transportation said in a statement. The change is one of several authorized in Act 131, which Gov. Tom Wolf signed…
Pa. resumes ‘PEUC’ extended unemployment payments
Pennsylvania is beginning this week to make payments authorized under the extended Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, or PEUC, the state Department of Labor & Industry said. PEUC provides additional weeks of payments to workers who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits. Claimants are automatically moved from standard unemployment to PEUC when they qualify. Like…
Drop-off option available for free VITA tax prep
Lancaster County’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, VITA, is now accepting drop-off appointments for its free tax preparation service. The drop-off service is being offered during the coronavirus pandemic to give taxpayers a safe way to provide their W-2 forms and other tax information for VITA’s IRS-certified volunteers to use in filling out their returns.…
Lancaster Barnstormers hosting ‘Pack the Park’ donation drive
(Source: Lancaster Barnstormers) The Lancaster Barnstormers baseball team is hosting “Pack the Park,” a donation drive for the Lancaster County community, at Clipper Magazine Stadium Monday, Jan. 25, through Saturday, Jan. 30. “Lancaster’s largest food, clothing and personal item donation drive” is accepting a variety of donated items at the stadium (650 N. Prince St.,…
News: Monday, Jan. 25
School District of Lancaster students line up outside for their first day back in-person in this Jan. 25 photo. (Source: School District of Lancaster) Headlines: • School District of Lancaster schools return to in-person education today: Students will be able to choose from three education options; in-person, Zooming in to live classes and Cyber Pathways…
PolicyLab panel: With Covid-19 mitigation, schools can be ‘islands of safety’
Panelists take part in a PolicyLab webinar on school Covid-19 safety on Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. Done right, the prospects for conducting in-person instruction safely for the rest of the 2020-21 school year are bright, six experts in education and health said Friday. Yes, Covid-19 case counts remain far too high, and there are concerns…
Gov. Wolf announces health secretary nominee, appoints physician general
Alison Beam, left, and Dr. Wendy Braund (Source: Provided) Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday he will nominate Alison Beam to serve as secretary of health to succeed outgoing Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine. Wolf also named Dr. Wendy Braund to the post of interim acting physician general, effective Saturday. Levine was named Tuesday by President Joe…
Pa. resumes unemployment assistance to gig workers, freelancers
(Source: Pa. Office of Unemployment Compensation) Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments are resuming in Pennsylvania as of today, the state Department of Labor & Industry announced. PUA helps individuals such as self-employed and gig workers who lost their jobs in the pandemic and are generally not eligible for other unemployment programs. It and other CARES Act…
By the numbers: No post-holiday Covid-19 surge in Lancaster County
The COVID-19 virus is losing strength in Lancaster County. Contrary to past predictions, the post-holiday spike of COVID-19 hospital cases and deaths has not materialized: Deaths here in the first three weeks of January (87) are one-third lower than they were in the last three weeks of December (127). Daily hospital cases have fallen significantly…
News: Friday, Jan. 22
In this image taken from online video, Kathy Boockvar speaks during a Zoom call with reporters on Friday, Oct. 23, 2020. Headlines: • Pa. GOP launches hearings on 2020 election: On Thursday, in the first of 14 election-related hearings, Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar spent nearly three hours defending her handling of the 2020…
Webinar Friday morning to look at schools’ Covid-19 options
PolicyLab, a public health research center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, will host a free online panel discussion Friday morning on “Navigating the Remainder of the Covid-19 School Year.” The pandemic and the public health response to it are evolving rapidly, PolicyLab said, and as vaccination and testing become more prevalent and accessible, schools…
PolicyLab: U.S. may be ‘turning a corner’ on Covid-19
PolicyLab’s most recent Covid-19 case projections (dotted line) for Lancaster County. (Source: PolicyLab) Two weeks of promising data suggest that the United States may be “rounding a corner” in the coronavirus pandemic, according to the PolicyLab research center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. However, increased incidence in winter vacation sites and the potential danger from…