(gentle music) - [Reporter] Live from your public media studios WVIA presents Keystone Edition Reports.

A Public Affairs program that goes beyond the headlines to address issues in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

This is Keystone Edition Reports, and now moderator Larry Vojtko.

- Hello, I'm Larry Vojtko.

So many things that all our lives have changed over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Everyone has been affected in one way or another.

Now, as restrictions start to lift and vaccines become more widely available to those who want them, The question is when will things get back to normal?

What changes will stay with us for the future?

Share your thoughts with our experts.

+1 800-326-9842.

Send an email to keystone@wvia.org or tag us on social with #Keystonereports.

WVIA Paul Lazar takes a look back at the past year and the way forward.

(gentle music) - [Paul] It's been a little more than a year Since the COVID 19 pandemic took hold.

Many lost their jobs.

Countless businesses have closed their doors and still many more have died.

Scores of workers are now working from home indefinitely alongside their children whose classrooms are now in the living room.

The pandemic has changed the lives of everyone but as vaccine distribution improves and things start to get back to normal, what changes will stay?

Experts say the real estate industry may see big changes as many companies stick with a distributed workforce, the demand for commercial real estate may drop.

In-person entertainment like movie theaters may never fully bounce back.

Many closed theaters may not reopen their doors as first run movies are made available via streaming.

Even as the nation as a whole starts to recover from the pandemic, your next doctor's visit may be done through a screen.

An article on Forbes illustrates the value of tele-health.

Now that doctors can be reimbursed for virtual visits, waiting times are reduced, and it's easier for doctors to interact with home bound patients or those in rural areas who find it difficult to travel.

These are just some of the long-term effects.

The rest remain to be seen.

For Keystone Edition Reports, I'm Paul Lazar.

(gentle music) - Well, now we need to hear from you.

We're ready to take your calls at +1 800-326-9842.

You can also email keystone@wvia.org or message us through our social channels using the hashtag #Keystonereports.

Let's welcome our guests who are here to take a deeper look into what changes COVID-19 may have for the future.

First we welcome Dr. Alison Brodginski the Director of Infectious Disease for Geisinger's Northeast Region.

Gary Wentz is the Executive Director for the Pocono County's Workforce Development Board, and Dr. Mary Stock joins us on zoom.

She's part of the Lehigh Valley physicians group.

Welcome, welcome everyone.

And Dr. Brodginski let's start with you.

How about a status report for us?

How are we doing in the region in the state?

And maybe if you can comment in the nation how are we doing?

- Sure.

So I think looking back over the past year, I mean we are clearly in a different position than where we were a year ago.

It's almost hard to believe March, 11th WHO declared a pandemic with the virus SARS-CoV-2 and to think now a little over a year later that we're sitting here in the studio talking about even the idea of that we have vaccinations.

Not only do we have vaccinations, we have highly effective and multiple vaccinations available in the United States is something that I don't know if I would have believed if you told me a year ago.

So we have evolved tremendously from where we were last year.

I will say though, with caution that we're not out of the woods yet.

We're not out of the woods yet from a nation standpoint, we're not out of the woods from a state or even a local standpoint.

So we know that we still have coronavirus COVID-19 circulating in our community.

We have noticed a decreasing trend over the past several weeks and then almost a plateau more recently we're starting to see a little bit of a bump up not only in community cases, as well as hospitalizations.

So again, we are not out of the woods yet.

We have a lot to be thankful for.

And I think a lot of reasons to talk about hope for the end of this.

But I think the one important message is, please don't give up now, remember those risk mitigation strategies because now more than ever is when they're going to count.

- Right.

The risk mitigation strategies.

Define those for us.

- Absolutely.

And I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with what we're going to talk about.

So the masking, extremely important, and this is true whether you're vaccinated or not vaccinated, if you're out in public, you have to have those masks in place.

And again, it's not only to protect yourself but to protect those around you.

Really stay mindful of how close you are to others.

So that six foot rule is still going to apply and then personal responsibility.

If you're not feeling well, obviously call your primary care physician.

Tests are widely available Again a huge advancements of where we were a year ago today that you can now schedule a test and have that completed within the same day with really quick turnaround time for results.

- [Larry] You mentioned there's been an uptick more recently.

Do we know what's causing that uptick?

And does it have anything to do with perhaps a variance of the disease?

- It's a great question.

We certainly know that variants here in the United States and we know that they're here in Pennsylvania.

We know that they're even here locally in our area.

Some of the variants that we're talking about we are familiar with, they are more transmissible meaning they are easier to transmit to another person.

We are still collecting information in terms of how frequent are we finding them here?

Currently, we're sending a lot of the samples off to the state for sequencing.

We will start doing our own sequencing within the Geisinger health system in the very near future so we can get really that information out to our residents so that we're aware of what's around.

But, yeah, absolutely.

Variants can be one of those issues that we're seeing in addition to I think this idea of COVID fatigue.

I think people are just, they're ready for this to be over as we all are.

- The COVID-19 of course has affected just about every aspect of our lives.

Not only from a health care medical issues, mental health education, but business as well.

And the pandemic has crippled the service industry particularly bars and restaurants.

Many restaurant tours have had to change how they do business to keep their doors open.

A group of community leaders in marketing, media, banking business, government, economic development, education and healthcare wanted to help.

They collaborated on a project called Boost Business to connect those in need with the support that's available.

The owner of Eden a Vegan Cafe, talked with WVIA about what the help from Boosts Business meant to him, his employees and their livelihood.

(air whooshing) - Eden a Vegan Cafe, we opened my first shop in 2008.

When it first started, when the pandemic first started we had opened our second location here in Wilkes-Barre just in October of 2019.

So we were just several months in when March, 2000, everything hit the fan.

No one knew what to do.

We had to immediately close indoor dining.

We had to lay off some staff.

We shorten our hours.

No one really knew what to do.

In the very beginning business ground to pretty much a halt.

But, thankfully we have a great customer base and people did want to support local businesses.

Once people kind of were like, "Well I think this is going to last a little while.

We're going to have to get our masks and do what we need to do."

The great thing about Boost Business is honestly, I didn't even know it existed until a customer, I guess I had went ahead and started it for us.

They brought the sign into us and with her name and everything and we went ahead and put it on her social media, but it was really nice.

Cause that was a surprise.

It was right in the beginning when that started.

it's been great.

I mean the word of mouth number one is great.

We're very active on social media.

So the fact that that was a social media campaign to go ahead and post it and hashtag it and everything.

We're all about that.

So that was great.

It's great goodwill when other customers see that people are doing that.

So we just love that a lot.

And actually we just got our first check for the Lucerne County portion of it just the other day and my gosh that people would be willing to donate just to help like that.

It's a wonderful feeling.

It's great.

(gentle music) - Well, Mr. Gary Wentz is the executive Director of the Pocono County's Workforce Development Board.

And Mr. Wentz, let's take that as a jumping off point and give us some of the information that you have regarding the impact that COVID-19 has had on the business community.

And maybe you could talk from both the perspectives of both labor and industry.

- Well, it started obviously back in March and it was a first time in my experience in this industry over 40 years where we tried to turn off the economy to a great extent all at once.

And we went from a period of relatively low unemployment around 6, 7% in the region up to as much as 16% or higher in a matter of days.

And we were very reactive obviously.

And there was a lot of industries scrambling to see who could remain open and who had to shut down.

And now it's gone on a lot longer than we anticipated earlier, but now we're at a point where there's a little bit of light hopefully at the end of the tunnel.

And I think there's a lot of concern on the part of a broad range of industries as far as is the labor force going to come back to the part where it was before.

Even during the last year there have been a lot of employers that have continued to have a need for hiring and things of that nature.

And they've had difficulty attracting people.

So there's a lot of concern and it's not just the hospitality and tourism industry.

It's across the board, manufacturing, healthcare all the industries that we've talked to in past year have expressed concerns about being able to attract people as things get back to normal.

- Well, thank you.

It's, fascinating to hear that there are opportunities that employers are looking for help and having that connection has yet to be made.

Well, maybe we'll touch on that but I want to get to Dr. Mary Stock, who is with Lehigh Valley health network of family physician and Dr. Stock, Can you just tell us a little bit about what your day is like, what your practice is like and what effect has the pandemic had on that practice and how has that affected your kind of day to day?

We know the effect of day to day operations as far as have to mask and sanitize and things of that sort but are there other things that it has affected in the maybe in the types of patients you're seeing, or the types of issues, medical issues that are coming to you?

Could you speak to that a bit?

- Certainly thank you for the question.

So over the past year the first thing that happened when the pandemic hit was everybody stayed home and we were trying as best as we could to meet everybody's needs without needing them to come into the office because we were trying to protect what limited PPE we had and make sure that it was utilized within the hospitals among our sickest patients.

As then we were able to get more personal protective equipment out to the offices, We then said, okay, we've got all of this new technology and how are we going to best utilize that to take care of our patients, to keep our patients safe at home when we can, and to make sure that people understand when they need to come in because we need to see them, we need to touch them.

We need to use our hands as diagnostic instruments to help to figure out what's wrong and to treat them appropriately.

So a lot of it has been getting used to using different technology, to helping our patients understand when that technology is best utilized.

And then more recently, it's trying to help people understand that they may have been ignoring certain healthcare conditions or healthcare needs for some time.

So making sure they're getting their screening tests like mammograms, getting lab work to make sure that their diabetes is under control or that their kidneys are doing well with their medication regimens.

And then also just allowing people now to come back into the office as they feel comfortable doing so.

But there have been so many changes in thinking about what's the best way to offer care.

There are some people that prefer to come in but there are some people who can be very well-managed through video visits, and it's very convenient for them.

The other big changes that I've seen in my practice which is an urban practice in Allentown, is that a lot of my vulnerable communities, my populations of color have been disproportionately affected by this virus that they've known a lot more people who've gotten sick and a lot more people who've died.

They also are more likely to be functioning in those essential worker roles.

That's putting some additional stress on them and they're more likely to have children at home full time in those multi-generational homes and some of the urban districts that are still closed or still all doing all online learning, I'll say.

- Well, we'd like to hear your questions, comments please use the number at the bottom of your screen.

Get in touch with us via social media.

We'd love to hear from you.

And you could ask a question of our experts.

We're talking about these new technologies and we're in the business world we're now zoom meeting all the time.

But there's the telemedicine and Dr. Stock, you were pointing out that it's all fine and well but there are times where you have to the patient there and be there in physical proximity.

But do you think that telemedicine has been around for a number of years.

It just kind of got a boost in this last year because we were kind of forced to use it kind of like we'll be forced to use video conferencing.

Do you think that's going to stay now and I'll ask the same question to Dr. Brodginski but first Dr. Stock, do you think that's something that's another tool in the toolbox?

- Absolutely.

I hope it stays because there are some patients for whom it is so useful.

It avoids the drive into the office, the time in the waiting room.

So it can be incredibly convenient for patients where it's appropriate.

So I hope it does stay.

And I would say that, yes, we've been talking about virtual visits and medicine for quite a long time.

And what's really happened over the last year is not only were we forced to use it but all of a sudden the insurers were willing to pay for it and making sure that that is something that stays around into the future is really important to make sure that we're able to continue to utilize this technology for all of its good reasons.

- And Dr. Brodginski what about you?

What are your comments about telemedicine and the advancements in technology?

- Yeah.

I completely agree with Dr. Stock.

It was one of those ideas that certainly has been on the table for quite some time in the medical community.

And it really wasn't until this pandemic hit where we realized this resource is here and now is the time to move on it.

Obviously having that extra support from the insurance company and from the billing side, really allowed hospitals to ramp this up at a level that was just unbelievable.

Something we couldn't have imagined over a year ago.

It's been a huge patient satisfier, but I think to the point that Dr Stock had pointed out, it's not for everyone, but it certainly has helped with access issues for a majority of patients who otherwise would not have come into a hospital, would not have sought care or called their primary care physician out of fear possibly of coming in.

But on the flip side of that, moving forward as we're coming out of this pandemic, it certainly is going to be something that I hope that we see continue and I expect we will.

- Mr. Wentz, let's talk about technology and business and how... You had mentioned that there are employers out there who are having trouble finding the staff to fill the ranks there.

Are you finding that the industry, the business leaders are using technology in a new way to try to connect with the labor force?

- They're trying, they're doing online interviewing and they're trying doing recruiting through virtual job fairs and things like that.

Our CareerLink systems throughout the region have tried to adapt to those changes as quickly as possible.

Just to stay engaged with our customers who aren't coming in on our doors like they normally were in the past.

I agree.

I think it's accelerated a lot of trends even in education and telecommuting is another one we're looking at as far as the long-term impact to our region.

There's a lot of individuals that commute and are in the Poconos.

There's a lot of individuals that commuted into the New York and New Jersey area.

And we're wondering now whether some of those individuals that came back to our area or lived as have second homes in our area might stay there and continue to work from our region rather than move back to their primary residence in New York or some of the early urban areas.

- Wow.

That could really have a deep impact on the quality of life and how things progress here in the region If that's the case.

Now let's look forward to the future and I'll stay with you Mr. Wentz.

We'll start there about what do we see in the coming months as far as labor and industry and will the economy, or perhaps I ask you for an opinion.

Will the economy come back on its own or does it need a little boost and where should that boost come from?

Should it come from the federal government, the state government?

Should it come from organizations like your organization?

If you could tell us a little bit about what to expect from now, say to the end of the year?

- Well, we are anticipating that there's going to be continuing hiring opportunities across a broad range of industries.

Again we're considering job fairs, starting some regional job fairs again because the feedback we're getting from employers is they're anticipating having a need to ramp up their hiring a little bit more as things improve.

There's also a percentage of the workforce that kind of dropped out temporarily because of the circumstances especially women in the workforce because of the school closings and things of that nature where they were had to shift to a role of a caregiver and assist with their children's education remotely.

And that's about 5 to 6% of the labor force that we basically lost in the last nine months and how quickly they come back.

There's a lot of questions about that at this point.

- Well, Dr. Stock, let's take a look in the future.

What do you hope to see and how are you helping?

You mentioned that you have some part of your patient list that's really having trouble getting the vaccine and dealing with this.

What do you hope will proceed?

How will we proceed in the next few months say to the end of the year?

- Well, as far as vaccines are concerned, I'm a family physician, vaccinations have always been part of what I've offered in my office and I do hope that as vaccines become more available and more plentiful, that I'll be able to offer that service to my patients exactly where I am.

I know that they trust me and I've been asking my patients do you think you'll take the vaccine when it's your turn when it's available.

And a lot of them may ask me how will I know and how will I be able to get it?

So looking into the future, I do hope that's something I can do for them.

The other thing that I see in the future is probably a little bit more in terms of wearables or in terms of remote monitoring for some of my patients with chronic diseases, especially.

We're doing some of that now for our patients with congestive heart failure, so that we can keep an eye on some of their parameters at home and we can identify when they start getting into trouble so we can intervene more quickly and hopefully keep them out of the hospital.

- Well, just a quick question for you.

Have you seen, let's talk about the seasonal flu.

Have you seen the usual cases and seasonal flu this year?

- No.

We have not seen very many cases of seasonal flu this year, as it turns out, masking is incredibly effective for decreasing the transmission of all sorts of respiratory illnesses.

So I've seen fewer ear infections in children.

I've seen fewer common colds.

I've seen fewer acute gastrointestinal diseases and almost no flu.

Selling the flu shot was a tough sell this year.

- (laughing) Well, I guess there's a lesson to be learned.

(laughing) just wash your hands (laughing) - If you're I'm willing to wash our hands all the time and mask every winter- - So mom was always right.

Wash your hands.

Now Dr. Brodginski, we're quickly running out of time.

We're almost out of time but I'll come to you for this.

Maybe this will conclude.

What do you see as the... You had mentioned you were very excited about, earlier about mentioning how we came to this vaccine so quickly.

Do you think that's the biggest success that we've seen in this?

Has there been a success and is that the biggest success?

- I think it's tough to say what was the biggest success in all of it.

From a medical technology standpoint, Yeah.

The vaccination is going to be really key in getting this pandemic under control.

But I think the way that we achieved vaccination at such a rate, you really have to look at the stacking of hands.

The stacking of hands by a lot of people.

This was from pharmaceutical companies.

This was from the government.

This was from the scientific community.

And not only was that done on such a global level, but I'm sure Dr. Stock can attest even in her hospital setting, it was done at a local level as well.

And to me that was one of the greatest accomplishments.

We stacked hands as hospitals.

We stacked hands as communities, walls came down.

We had multiple discussions which still continue where Geisinger discusses with Lehigh Valley and we talk and we share the collaboration.

- Is it something new?

Have the walls come down a little bit?

- The walls have come down a little bit.

Yeah.

The walls have come down a little bit.

And that is something that I hope to see again continue in the future because again we're here for one common goal and that's to keep our community safe.

That's to get through this.

So, yeah, the vaccination, I think is a perfect example of one of the best lessons that we learned through this which is again the power of people working towards a common goal and coming together for that common goal.

- I think we're seeing that in the Boost program as well in a different sense were communities we're partnering in different aspects of the economy are coming together and media and business and financial institutions all coming together and finally realizing that we're all a community maybe and rely on one another.

And we perhaps have something that we have a responsibility to each other, to try to make a better life for us.

Well, do you have any other comments?

Would you like to sound in ?

We just have about a minute left.

Dr. Stock, what can we take away from all of this after the first year?

- After the first year please get your vaccine as soon as you're able to, if you want to at all.

vaccination is one of the biggest things that's going to help us get through this so that we can return to some of the things that we miss and love about life.

- Well Mr. Wentz, Dr. Stock, Dr. Brodginski our time is up, and I would like to thank you all for participating and thank you for watching.

Thank you for joining us.

For more information on this topic, please visit wvia.org/keystone reports.

And remember, you can re watch this episode on demand any time online or on the WVIA app which is available at your app store.

For Keystone Edition, I'm Larry Vojtko.

Thank you so much for watching.

(upbeat music) Mr. Wentz Thank you Dr. Stock.

Thanks for participating.

Hope we can find some other opportunity to involve you here at WVIA.

- Thank you.

- Now go home get yourself a glass of wine and then (mumbles) - I really glad that we were able to... - Well there you go.

- That's another... - [Dr. Stock] Have a good night.

- (Laughing out loud) Well, get some rest.

- I think you know.

There's a really interesting group in the area.