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Letter writer Kristen Bruck says the Southern Lehigh School Board’s recent decision to make mask-wearing optional in schools was a mistake, and will disproportionately hurt teachers, many of whom are already struggling.
Letter writer Rochelle Steiner-Friel, MD, of Upper Saucon Township, says the Southern Lehigh School Board was right to end its mask mandate in district schools. She writes that the potential harm masks can cause children outweighs any benefit from their compulsory use, which she believes is “likely minimal” at best.
No amount of money can ease the pain of losing a loved one to COVID, but government assistance may be available to ease the financial burden an unexpected death from the disease can cause.
Letter writer Christof Ambrosch of Center Valley says the Southern Lehigh School Board’s recent vote to make mask-wearing optional in the district put a crucial decision about kids’ safety back in the hands of parents, where it belongs.
An Italian restaurant on E. Susquehanna Street in Salisbury Township has closed after less a year in operation, according to a Facebook post by the owners.
Most of the patients being treated for COVID in local hospitals aren’t there for other reasons, St. Luke’s University Health Network officials said in a news release Thursday; a statistic they said “contradicts the recent public narrative that most hospitalized COVID inpatients tested positive for the coronavirus incidentally only after being admitted to the hospital for other reasons.”
It’s certainly not the list most counties would want to top, but Lehigh and Northampton counties are currently ranked #1 and #2, respectively, among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties for the average number of new COVID cases they are reporting per 100,000 residents.
Eric Ziegmont and his fiancé, Michele Scribbick, started experiencing symptoms of COVID soon after they performed with their band, Sapphire, in early September 2021. Scribbick recovered, but Ziegmont’s illness landed him in Geisinger St. Luke’s Hospital in critical condition for weeks. Neither Ziegmont nor Scribbick had been vaccinated against COVID before getting sick, but that has changed since then.
The post-holiday surge in COVID cases many public health experts feared appears to be in full swing in places like Lehigh County, which reported a new daily case record Tuesday.
It will be harder for some Lehigh Valley residents who depend on the Lehigh & Northampton Transportation Authority’s (LANTA’s) bus service to get around the area Monday, after LANTA announced the cancellation of some Jan. 3 trips on its routes due to what it said is “a high level of absences among bus drivers due to COVID 19.”