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LATEST PHILADELPHIA CORONAVIRUS NEWS

Philly indoor dining in August depends on meeting outdoor dining regulations, says insider

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Restaurants are in the full swing of socially distanced outdoor dining, but are they doing it well enough to ensure they'll be able to move into the indoor phase of dining come August 1? One industry insider believes they could be doing more.While the majority of restaurants are complying with outdoor dining regulations, Ben Fileccia, director of operations and strategy for the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, is concerned that a few restaurants could ruin it for everyone."What I see that disturbs me right now are tables that are really close together," he described, "when I see employees not wearing masks, when I see employees not washing hands and when I see guests walking around without masks on."As part of his job with the PRLA, Fileccia has been visiting restaurants to make sure they know what the rules are. Hadas Kuznits/KYW Newsradio "I've been yelled at for offering friendly advice," he shared. "I've been thrown out of places, I've been yelled at, I've been cursed at, I've been shot some really unfortunate emails."And Fileccia says outdoor dining means you have to literally be outside of the walls of your restaurant."In Philadelphia, if seating is within the 'thermal envelope' of your restaurant, you are inside," he explained, which means if you close the door or window and you can feel air conditioning or heat, your table is in the wrong place. "There are some restaurants that have garage doors or wide open windows, and some people thought that it was okay if they sat tables right at those windows or right in front of those garage doors, and that's just not the case," he said.Fileccia said indoor dining is supposed tentatively supposed to start on August 1, but that depends on whether or not restaurants can handle this phase of opening first."You kind of just wanted to mind your own business but that's not the case anymore," he remarked. "Because like we've seen in Allegheny County, it just takes two or three bad restaurants to shut down the entire county."If anyone is unsure of the rules, you can check out the coronavirus Q&A page on the PRLA website."We hate to be the enforcers of this," admitted Fileccia. "We have enough to worry about right now."

July 11, 2020

Deal in place to do major borrowing to help NJ get through pandemic

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The state of New Jersey will apparently be able to handle one of the financial problems to surface from the COVID-19 pandemic. Deal in place to do major borrowing to help NJ get through pandemic Gov. Phil Murphy has stressed, particularly as tax revenues plummeted, that the state needed two things to get through the crisis. One is additional federal assistance with as few strings attached as possible. The other is the ability to carry over billions of dollars in debt over time to keep essential services going. On the borrowing front, that takes a deal with the legislature.“We had very productive meetings with both the Senate President Steve Sweeney and Speaker Craig Coughlin and I’m very proud and happy to announce that we have an agreement on bonding,” Murphy said. That agreement will allow for as much as $9.9 billion of borrowing, with the approval of a legislative commission, according to Sweeney’s office. That four-member panel, two from each chamber, will have to approve each request by a majority vote. Republicans have vowed to go to court over any bonding plan, saying programs should be cut instead.The state now has 174,628 coronavirus cases and 13,532 fatalities.

July 10, 2020

Camden County fire department receives largest cut of federal aid for NJ firehouses

WINSLOW TOWNSHIP, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Fire departments across New Jersey are benefitting from nearly $473,000 in grants from the federal CARES Act. The Winslow Township Fire Department in Camden County received the biggest cut.Chief Marc Rigberg said the department applied for $125,000 in grants for personal protective equipment, respirators and other supplies needed amid the pandemic. The government provided $113,000 — significantly more than any other department in the state.“The equipment that we will buy from it will keep our forces safer,” Rigberg said. “It'll keep us in the fight against the pandemic that's ongoing right now. It'll keep us healthier, stronger. It'll actually provide us with reusable stock that we can reuse, so again, a financial benefit.”The equipment reduces the risk of spreading or contracting COVID-19, allowing the department to be fully staffed when needed.“Us being able to protect ourselves enables us to serve the community better and not have forced reductions due to ill firefighters or emergency medical technicians,” he added. The funding also ensures the continuity of service across a large area that doesn’t have too many fire hydrants.Since the pandemic, Rigberg said a lot has changed in the way firefighters do their jobs, both for their safety and the safety of the community. “The stressors for us to stay in the fight, again, are pretty high,” he said. Rigberg explains more about what it’s like below:Nearby fire departments in Washington Township and Westampton also received about $9,000 and $18,500 in federal aid, respectively. Winslow Township firefighters serve about 40,000 residents. Rigberg said support from the community and lobbying from state and local politicians helped the grant come to fruition.U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker helped secure the aid.“As our firefighters risk their own lives to protect those of others, particularly in the midst of this public health crisis, we must ensure they have the resources they need to remain out of harm’s way,” added Booker in a statement.

July 10, 2020

NJ extends driver’s license expirations a second time due to pandemic

TRENTON, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission is once again extending expiration dates for licenses, registrations, tags and non-driver ID cards that have either expired or soon will.The move follows days of long lines outside of MVC offices across the state since they reopened on Tuesday. It’s the second time expirations on licenses and such have been extended since the pandemic hit.For expirations between March and May, the new deadline is Sept. 30. For expirations from June through August, residents have until the end of the year. Commercial drivers' licenses were extended earlier to the end of September.Officials are still encouraging people to do their business online. Those who can’t are now given numbers to make sure they get served. When an office reaches its daily limit, those left waiting will be told to go home.The agency earlier announced a six-day work week through July, starting Monday, and a halt to employee furloughs to speed things up.MVC Chief Administrator Sue Fulton said in a press release, “We share the frustration of our customers and hear the complaints loud and clear. Our employees are working hard in a difficult climate to keep up with demand. The furlough exemptions will support expanded staff starting next Monday.”Many have complained about an operational change planned before the pandemic that is now in effect. Offices are now divided into two specialties — licensing and vehicles — rather than all-purpose service. That change was made, in part, to accommodate an expected surge in demand for federally mandated REAL ID licenses. That mandate, which was set to take effect in October, has been delayed a year in light of the pandemic.The agency says the switch has resulted in faster service for those who actually get into the office. On Tuesday, for example, the agency says the number of people served was up 15% from a pre-pandemic day in the first quarter of 2020, with higher numbers on Wednesday.

July 10, 2020

Study: Pandemic changed kids' injuries; telemedicine changed their treatments

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Changes to daily life forced by the coronavirus pandemic have changed the nature of children's injuries. As a result, treatments are being altered too.Organized sports and classroom learning were canceled in the spring, so there was a 60% decrease in related arm and leg fractures according to research from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Researchers found a concurrent increase in injuries from trampolines and bikes. That makes sense, according to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Apurva Shah."The overall rate of musculoskeletal injuries, particularly fractures, has come down substantially, but what we found was interesting," Shah said. "The proportion of injuries that were occurring in kids at home was actually on the rise."Researchers were worried that families were putting off care, afraid of contracting COVID-19 in the emergency department or doctor's office. Shah says they found that wasn't the case. Instead, whenever possible, physicians have been using telemedicine and relying on treatments that help reduce the number of in-person visits. "Sometimes kids will have a buckle fracture, which is a relatively minor fracture, most commonly of the wrist, which really doesn't necessarily need a cast. So, for a lot of those kids, we've been putting on either a removable cast or a Velcro brace," Shah said. "It really eliminates or obviates the need for a return visit to the office to have the cast removed."Shah said he expects such changes to children's medical treatment to continue as more families come to rely on telemedicine.

July 10, 2020

Fitness boutique exemplifies situation for all Philly gyms waiting to reopen

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Plans to open gyms and fitness studios in southeastern Pennsylvania this week were scratched when officials announced that coronavirus infection rates were too high.After months of closure, small fitness boutique owners, such as Hagana Kim and his wife, Callie, are wondering what the future looks like.The Kims opened the small fitness boutique Tuck Barre & Yoga in Philadelphia in 2017, and it has since expanded to five locations."All of the experts agree that breathing hard in an indoor, enclosed space is one of the riskiest things you can do," Hagana said. "And that’s exactly what we used to do."He says he’s glad officials decided not to open gyms, but the outlook is grim."That’s what small studio boutique fitness is. So, unless there’s a vaccine that’s widely adopted, I don’t really see a safe way to reopen our business — certainly not in the very near future."He says they have benefited from a couple of small loans, however:"We’ve been doing our best to pay rent. We haven’t gotten much rent relief at all, except for one of our landlords. Every month we’re losing money and we’re kind of digging ourselves deeper," Hagana said. "We did get an EIDL loan, which has certainly been a lifeline, but again, that’s just a loan, and every month we're just sending that money off to pay rent."He says they're not making much money, and they're going to reach a point where it doesn’t make sense to pour any more money down the hole."It’s getting close to that point," he said. "We're still hanging on for now, but it’s hard to see how to see how we get to the other side of this." Tuck Barre & Yoga Many other business owners are in similar situations and unsure of the future. The silver lining? Kim says they’ve been offering free and donation-based fitness classes on Facebook Live since the studios closed, making fitness more accessible to people in Philadelphia and across the world."The need is absolutely there. We get so many messages from people we’ve never met from all over the country. Some all over the world. They tell us, 'Thank you so much. This is keeping me sane.' Those messages mean so much. It’s nice to be actually helping people," he said.Gym reopening plans are set for August, but officials could push that back again depending on the daily rate of increase in coronavirus cases.

July 10, 2020

Embiid, wary of NBA season start, dons Tyvek suit for Orlando flight

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Sixers All-Star Joel Embiid wasn’t kidding earlier this week when he expressed concern about restarting the NBA season during a viral pandemic.“I’m not a big fan of the idea, but then again, I’m gonna do my job,” Embiid said Tuesday. “I’m not gonna let the city down. I’m gonna represent my city — that’s what I’ve always done — my family and my teammates.”He showed just how serious he is when the 76ers boarded their flight to Orlando on Thursday. The 7-foot center wore a Tyvek suit from shoulder to toes, with gloves and a mask. NBC Sports Philadelphia took video of Embiid exiting a car, getting help to put on the suit — which looks like a hazmat suit without the head gear — and then walking over to a baby for a photo opportunity. As that was happening, backup center Kyle O’Quinn laughed hysterically in the background.Joel Embiid has arrived for the flight to Orlando, in full mask, suit and glove gear. pic.twitter.com/Nz7hOtc69E— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) July 9, 2020 Embiid posted photos to Instagram of himself posing in his suit as he boarded the plane, with the caption “Get rich or die trying!!! Orlando here we come #TheProcess.” Get rich or die trying!!! Orlando here we come #TheProcess A post shared by Joel "The Process" Embiid (@joelembiid) on Jul 9, 2020 at 2:59pm PDT He tagged the location as “Larry O’Brien,” the late former NBA Commissioner after whom the championship trophy is named. In that same post, Sixers limited-partner and Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin commented, “Let’s get a chip in Orlando and I’ll get you few hazmat suits that actually fit you!!!----”Later on Thursday night on his Instagram story, Embiid shared photos of the meal that was given to him, joking that he’s going to lose 50 pounds.Joel Embiid’s Instagram thoughts on his meal last night #Sixers pic.twitter.com/5Aw61zrwP4— Dave Uram (@MrUram) July 10, 2020 The photo of Embiid is from 2011 when he began playing basketball about a decade ago.In addition to Embiid’s concern about the coronavirus, he also believes other players won’t take safety protocols as seriously as they should.

July 10, 2020

County officials urge bars, restaurants to follow guidelines or risk getting fined

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — County officials are urging bars and restaurants to follow rules regarding operation during the pandemic, saying they want businesses to stay open, but they will shut down anyone being careless. Montgomery County Commissioner Dr. Val Arkoosh said they know a lot of restaurant or bar owners invested a lot of time and money to reopen under the new restrictions.“We want to support these restaurants. We do not want to shut down restaurants that are doing everything right because of a few bad actors,” she said. County officials urge bars, restaurants to follow guidelines or risk getting fined Arkoosh said the county’s public health office will enforce all guidelines, and she said anyone who sees an issue can anonymously report it on montcopa.org.“We have a process in place to quickly shut down restaurants after our inspectors observe a second incidence of noncompliance,” she said. Delaware County also has a link to report restaurants that aren’t following rules on their county website.“The majority of bars and restaurants are abiding by the guidance. It’s just a few of them that aren’t and that’s what’s putting us in jeopardy,” said Delaware County Councilwoman Monica Taylor.The following are some of the guidelines restaurants and bars must follow: bar patrons must be seated, no one can be served while standing, a maximum of four people who have a common relationship can sit at the bar, customers have to wear masks when walking through the bar or restaurant but can take it off while seated, and employees are required to wear masks while working.

July 10, 2020

Philadelphia launches campaign encouraging more people to wear masks

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — “Love your neighbor, wear a mask.” Philadelphia launches campaign encouraging more people to wear masks That’s the message of a $750,000 ad campaign the city of Philadelphia launched Thursday as part of its effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.“We’ll keep our case counts down by educating Philadelphians on why wearing a mask is more important than ever right now and inspiring them to do their part,” said Mayor Jim Kenney during a briefing at which the campaign was announced.Photos showing people of various age, gender and ethnic groups wearing masks will appear on SEPTA vehicles, social media, and in print and online ads in several languages through the end of September.One version, with the “love your neighbor” masks, capitalizes on Philadelphia’s identity as the City of Brotherly Love; another on its image as a tough town with masks reading “Philly Never Backs Down.”New ⁦@PhiladelphiaGov⁩ campaign promoting masks: Love Your Neighbor. Wear a Mask pic.twitter.com/PpmTaNECLR— Pat Loeb (@PatLoeb) July 9, 2020 “We need to make masks the new normal,” said Health Commissioner Tom Farley, stressing that it is the best way to avoid the kind of spikes seen in places like Texas, Florida, Arizona and even Delaware, without shutting the city down again.As it is, new cases of the infection are rising slightly again in Philadelphia after stabilizing briefly. Farley said new cases are averaging 115 a day, up from 110 a day for the past two weeks.He also reported two additional fatalities, bringing the number of deaths in the city from the infection to 1,627.

July 09, 2020

Philly superintendent says Trump’s threat to cut funding will not sway city’s back-to-school plan

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — School District of Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite isn’t giving much thought to President Donald Trump’s threat to withhold funds from schools that don't bring all students back to classrooms this fall. The district receives less than 10% of its revenue from the federal government, and Hite said the back-to-school plan he expects to release next week will be based on science and safety.Hite told reporters Thursday he’s not going to be influenced by the president's promise to cut funding, which the president doesn't even control.“You haven’t given any guidance up to date, and now you come in and say, ‘Just bring everybody back,’ to me, it just validates the fact that there’s a credibility issue there,” he said.On Tuesday, Trump argued some districts are keeping schools closed not because of the risks from the coronavirus, but for political reasons on the Democratic front, according to the Associated Press.“They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed,” he said at a White House discussion on school plans for the fall. “No way. We’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools.”Corrupt Joe Biden and the Democrats don’t want to open schools in the Fall for political reasons, not for health reasons! They think it will help them in November. Wrong, the people get it!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020 Speakers at the White House’s round-table argued that the risks of keeping students at home outweigh any risks tied to the coronavirus, saying students need access to meal programs and mental and behavioral health services.“We want to reopen the schools,” Trump said. “Everybody wants it. The moms want it, the dads want it, the kids want it. It's time to do it.”“Children’s mental health and social development must be as much of a priority as physical health,” first lady Melania Trump added. “The same is true for parents. Many will be forced to make stressful choices between caring for their children and going back to work.”In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2020 Hite said Trump’s comments reveal a lack of understanding of the complex issues that school districts must confront as they plan for the fall.“If there was credibility, there would have been guidance early on,” Hite said, “so that states aren't trying to each do their own thing, or districts are each doing their own thing to get children back.”The School District of Philadelphia is basing its plan on advice from the city and state health departments, and up-to-date CDC guidance.___The Associated Press contributed to this report. © Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

July 09, 2020