Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tests positive ahead of Trump visit
By FARNOUSH AMIRI and DAN SEWELL Report for America/Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s governor has tested positive for the coronavirus just ahead of a planned meeting with President Donald Trump. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s office said Thursday he took the test as part of standard protocol before meeting Trump at an airport in Cleveland. He had planned to join the president on a visit to the Whirlpool Corp. plant in northwest Ohio. His office said DeWine has no symptoms, but was returning to Columbus before Trump landed. His office said he and his wife, Fran DeWine, will both be tested there. DeWine then plans to quarantine at his home in Cedarville for 14 days. Lt. Gov. Jon Husted tested negative.

1.2 million seek jobless aid after $600 federal check ends
By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 1.2 million laid-off Americans applied for state unemployment benefits last week, evidence that the coronavirus keeps forcing companies to slash jobs just as a critical $600 weekly federal jobless payment has expired. The government’s report did offer a smidgen of hopeful news: The number of jobless claims declined by 249,000 from the previous week, after rising for two straight weeks, and it was the lowest total since mid-March. Still, the pace remains at alarmingly high levels: It is the 20th straight week that at least 1 million people have sought jobless aid. Before the pandemic hit hard, the number of Americans seeking unemployment checks had never surpassed 700,000 in a week.

(File Photo)

(Potter Twp., Pa.) There has been a recent uptick of positive cases of the COVID-19 at the Shell Cracker Plant in Potter Twp. Shell said in a statement that there are 14 confirmed active cases among the workforce at the Potter Township construction site. Shell says in the statement that 21 workers are confirmed to have recovered from the COVID-19 and have been cleared to return to work.

Shell states that they currently have around 4,000 workers on site and continue to add workers at a measured pace with decisions made on a weekly basis of adding employees.

Shell has a testing lab on site and said as they add additional workers, the site’s testing lab is providing site leaders with a valuable tool that is helping the site to protect worker safety and manage COVID-19 challenges.  All workers newly joining or rejoining the work force undergo reorientation training that includes an onsite COVID-19 test required to gain badge access to site.  To date, the site’s testing lab has conducted more than 1,000 COVID-19 tests, with an approximate positivity rating of 1 percent.

Shell said in the statement that site safety is a priority and  they continue to follow and enforce COVID-19 guidelines as provided by the Center for Disease Control and the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Those include social distancing, mandatory masks, sanitizing stations, temperature screening, and lunchroom protocols that use tables with plexi-glass dividers with only two workers per table.

Shell states they may adapt their practices as conditions and corresponding guidelines change.

Districts go round and round on school bus reopening plans
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic means putting children on school buses, and districts are working on plans to limit the risk. The strategies being considered include limiting bus capacity, filling buses from the back and coming up with plans to handle children who exhibit symptoms. Planners have developed a wide array of strategies to reduce the health risks, but nobody has found a silver bullet. Many schools are surveying parents to determine how many students will need bus transportation and how many plan to drive their kids to school. Others are making decisions about bus capacity that involve a trade-off between safety and affordability.

How to participate

A livestream will be online at https://access.live/PAlabor. Those without internet access can listen by calling 1-833-380-0719, however access is limited so we ask that they be reserved for individuals who need them.

Participants can ask questions live during the town hall. To protect participants’ personal confidential information, detailed answers about individual claim questions cannot be answered during the town hall.

Pennsylvania has implemented all of the new programs under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act:

• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) – for self-employed, gig workers, contractors and others not normally eligible for UC.
• Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) – additional 13 weeks of benefits to people who exhaust their regular UC.
• Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) – extra $600 per week for anyone receiving unemployment benefits.
  • The federal government created and funded the FPUC program. Under federal requirement, the claim week ending July 25, 2020, was the last $600 FPUC payment claimants will receive. However, anyone receiving payments for UC claim weeks April 4 through July 25 will still receive backdated FPUC payments if eligible. The federal government must approve any extension of the program.

Improving Customer Service

• 229,726 overtime hours worked by L&I UC staff since mid-March.
• 122 percent increase in UC service center staffing levels since March 15 – with 775 employees supporting UC service center operations than compared to the current total of 1,719.

• The following claimants have been helped since March 15:
  • 702,896 through email;
  • 324,361 by phone;
  • 123,308 by LiveChat; and
  • 276,385 by Virtual Assistant.

Additionally, 94 percent of the eligible claimants have been paid or are not eligible for benefits among applicants from March 15 and July 4, if they filed a continuing claim to request a payment. The remaining 6 percent are claims that the automated system couldn’t approve for various reasons and are under individual review by staff.

Important Resources and Links

• L&I Press Releases
• L&I COVID-19 Guidance and Resources
• L&I COVID-19 Media Center
• Unemployment Press Briefing for August 3, 2020 (password is Zi8NydRJ)

Recordings of prior public town halls are available here. Additional unemployment benefits information is available on L&I’s website, Facebook or Twitter.

‘A line in the sand’: Both sides dig in on virus relief bill
By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Progress is coming slowly as lawmakers craft another major response to the coronavirus pandemic. Negotiators on the huge relief bill met Monday in the Capitol as issues like food for the poor and aid to schools moved to the forefront. The White House is seeking opportunities to boost President Donald Trump, like more $1,200 stimulus payments. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants big money for state and local governments. All sides predict a long slog ahead despite the lapse of a $600-per-week expanded unemployment benefit at the end of July. Several more days of talks are expected.

LAMB URGES FURTHER INVESTIGATION OF MANAGEMENT AND OVERSIGHT AT BRIGHTON FACILITY IN BEAVER COUNTY

(WASHINGTON, DC) – In a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), Representative Conor Lamb (PA-17) requested a full investigation into the oversight by the Pennsylvania Department of Health of the COVID-19 outbreak at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center (Brighton) in Beaver County and the use of hydroxychloroquine at the facility. 

 Lamb sent a letter on May 7 requesting an immediate investigation into the management’s performance.  CMS subsequently completed an inspection of Brighton on May 14, which resulted in a series of fines.

 In a follow-up letter sent on August 3, Lamb wrote: “That inspection found Brighton was not in substantial compliance with Federal requirements related to implementing proper infection prevention and control practices to prevent the development and transmission of COVID-19.  As you are aware, residents at Brighton have been seriously exposed to COVID-19 with at least 332 residents testing positive and at least 82 resident deaths linked to the pandemic, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data.”

 The letter also raises the issue of recent media reports that Brighton gave 205 of its 435 residents hydroxychloroquine with zinc without State approval. 

 “These findings were included in a State inspection report and directly violate State nursing home regulations that prevent experimental research or treatment without approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and from each resident after full disclosure,” added Lamb.

 “At this point, the Pennsylvania Department of Health does not appear to have imposed any accountability or punishment on Brighton for the use of hydroxychloroquine without permission.  For this reason, I request you investigate the State’s response to this unnecessary tragedy at Brighton,” urged Lamb.

 Lamb has advocated for many provisions for senior and long-term care facilities throughout the COVID-19 public health crisis.  Lamb was joined by Representative Mike Doyle in a letter to CMS urging additional oversight of nursing homes and senior care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Lamb also advocated for additional protections for seniors in an April 15 letter calling for the Department of Health and Human Services and CMS to collect and publicly report facility-level data on the number of long-term care residents affected by the COVID-19.  Lamb also joined other Members of Congress to request that a portion of the $25 billion emergency funding appropriated by Congress in the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act be allocated to states specifically for the development, purchase, administration, or provision of COVID-19 diagnostic tests for long-term care facilities.

(Susquehanna, Twp., Pa.) Governor Tom Wolf visited the Susquehanna Township Police headquarters yesterday to discuss the important roles education and understanding play in the enforcement of the various COVID-19 mitigation orders in place across the state.  During the question and answer session of the press conference the Governor was asked by a reporter if he an Dr. Levine are going to revisit their decision to allow parents and families to attend their children’s sporting events. As Governor Wolf started to answer Dr. Levine said that they are planning on issuing new guidelines in two days, Wednesday August 5, 2020. The Governor then stated that you have to understand this is a work in progress and the situation changes daily and they are just trying to keep up with the virus. The Governor did state that he feels whatever happens in the classroom should mimic what happens on the fields. In other words ” It’s not right that a school has on line only learning but yet have athletes on a field playing contact sports.”

Gov Wolf on sports mimicking  classroom:

Gov Wolf and Dr. Levine stating New Guidelines will be out in two days on fans attending sporting contests :

Locally Pa. State Representative Aaron Bernstine (10th) has been very outspoken that he feels that Gov. Wolf and Secretary Levine should reconsider not allowing spectators at sporting events. Bernstine wrote a letter to the Governor and health Secretary last Friday, July 31, 2020 and it he stated via his Facebook Page,  “I am disappointed the PIAA failed to attempt to develop innovative and individualized plans to allow parents and families to safely watch and support their student-athletes at school sporting events this fall. This blanket decision by the Board of Directors will have negative impacts on our student athletes’ well-being and self-esteem that will carry on through academics and adulthood. School sports are a short-lived opportunity for our youth, and a proud time for thousands of Pennsylvania parents, families and local communities. Our student-athletes deserve to have their parents cheering them on in the stands and sidelines, and parents deserve the short chance to see their children compete and grow.” 

In Light of Yesterdays information that was released in the press conference Bernstine said via Facebook ,”It looks as though a change of the original decision by the PIAA and Gov. Wolf may be coming soon. You spoke…. and they may be starting to listen!”

The Letter Bernstine sent to the Governor and Health was signed by 63 members of the legislature.  You can view Bernstine’s letter below: