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While the number of cases of the COVID 19 or the coronavirus pandemic continue to grow in the U.S. and Pennsylvania, WITF’s Smart Talk focuses on many aspects of the illness and the nation’s response to it. Smart Talk is committed to providing context and answering questions during these extraordinary times.

Featured on Wednesday’s Smart Talk coverage of the COVID-19 coronavirus emergency are discussions that focus on COVID-19 and lung health and the respiratory system; a WITF initative to help students learn while they’re out of school and at home; and details of Pennsylvania’s income tax deadline being delayed.

COVID-19 is an illness that attacks the respiratory system. One of the most noticeable symptoms is that those afflicted present with a dry cough. The illness becomes more critical when the patient is having trouble breathing and or goes into respiratory failure. That’s one of the reasons ventilators are so important to save lives.

Penn State Hershey allergist and immunologist Dr. Timothy Craig, MD, is on Wednesday’s Smart Talk to provide more information and answer questions about COVID-19 the coronavirus. Dr. Craig is on the American Lung Association Camp Hill’s local leadership board. (Dr. Craig recommends listeners visit the Centers for Disease Control website for the latest information on the COVID-19 emergency)

Also, hundreds of thousands of students are at home in Pennsylvania after Gov. Tom Wolf ordered schools to close earlier this month. It will be at least two weeks before they re-open. Some classes are continuing online and through distance learning but many students have little access to educational resources or materials.

WITF is launching a new initiative called Learning at Home that includes a website with dozens of educational resources for children, their parents and families while the emergency continues.

WITF’s Director of Education Debbie Riek and Director of Programming and Promotions Fred Vigeant are on Smart Talk to provide more details.

The income tax bill won’t be due April 15th both federally and in Pennsylvania due to the coronavirus outbreak. Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Revenue Dan Hassell joins us on Wednesday’s Smart Talk to explain and answer questions. For more information visit the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue website.

 

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While the number of cases of the COVID 19 or the coronavirus pandemic continue to grow in the U.S. and Pennsylvania, WITF’s Smart Talk focuses on many aspects of the illness and the nation’s response to it. Smart Talk is committed to providing context and answering questions during these extraordinary times.

On Friday’s Smart Talk, we discuss the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank’s role in meeting the needs of the region’s food insecure and hungry people, Pennsylvania state parks and going outdoors while maintaining social distancing during the pandemic and speak with a midstate man who is living in Italy — a country that may have been hit the hardest by the coronavirus.

The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank says it is “committed to meeting the elevated need” that they believe will be developing as thousands are out of work, on top of a sizable population that was already food insecure.

Executive Director Joe Arthur is on Friday’s Smart Talk.

Also, all facilities at Pennsylvania’s state parks are closed. However, the public can access trails, lakes, roads and parking while mitigation efforts continue.

Cindy Adams Dunn, the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is with us on Smart Talk to provide details and discuss what activities are available outdoors while many people are holed up at home.

Finally, more people have died from COVID-19 in Italy than any other country in the world and in fact the number of cases and deaths continue to grow.

On Friday’s Smart Talk, we speak with a Carlisle man who is living near Naples, Italy.

 

 

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While the number of cases of the COVID 19 or the coronavirus pandemic continue to grow in the U.S. and Pennsylvania, WITF’s Smart Talk focuses on many aspects of the illness and the nation’s response to it. Smart Talk is committed to providing context and answering questions during these extraordinary times.

On Thursday’s Smart Talk, we’ll discuss the critical need for blood from donors, how Pennsylvania’s restaurants that are shutdown, except for pick-up and delivery are faring, and how funerals are different due to the outbreak and social distancing.

Across the country, more than four-thousand blood drives have been canceled, resulting in some 130,000 fewer blood donations due to the coronavirus concerns. That’s according to the Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank, which supplies blood to 23 hospitals in 10 counties.

We’ll learn more about the need for blood on Thursday’s program with Patrick Bradley, President and CEO and Jay Wimer, Director of Community Relations  with the Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank.  For information about how you can donate blood call 1-800-771-0059 or visit 717giveblood.org

Also, nearly all of Pennsylvania’s restaurants and bars are closed under the direction of Gov. Tom Wolf, to keep people from coming into contact with someone who may be infected with the coronavirus. It will create a financial hardship for business owners and the thousands of workers who have been laid off from their jobs.

Meanwhile hotels have fewer overnight customers.

Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association President and CEO John Longstreet is on Smart Talk with details.

We’ll also hear from Mandy Arnold, co-owner of The Left Bank restaurant in York about her coronavirus plans.

Finally, one of the most sacred of rituals — funerals — are being affected by the coronavirus precautions.

Appearing on Thursday’s Smart Talk is David Peake, Jr., President of the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association and a licensed funeral director with Robert L. Mannal Funeral Home in Philadelphia to explain.

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Emergency room doctors and healthcare providers have found themselves on the front lines of the coronavirus response.

There has also been an impact on the acute care system and how hospitals are dealing with the crisis. A major part of their response involves first responders.

Joining us on Wednesday’s Smart Talk is Dr. Arvind Venkat, MD, a Pittsburgh-area Emergency Physician and President of the Pennsylvania College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Venkat is an ER doctor who will talk about what people need to be doing, and not doing, in response to COVID-19.

Also, millions of families around the country are now managing their children’s education outside of their brick and mortar schools and inside their own homes.

Homeschooling isn’t for everyone, but that is exactly what many families need to do while schools are closed.

Appearing on Smart Talk to offer her perspective on making it work for new homeschooling families is Devany LeDrew, a blogger and teacher who wants to share her families play-based educational activities.

And finally, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has taken unprecedented steps to curb the coronavirus outbreak in Pennsylvania prisons.

Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel is on Smart Talk to outline the steps they are taking to sanitize the facilities and support inmates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Pennsylvania Attorney General wants Pennsylvanians to be on the lookout for price gouging and scammers.

Merchants have been warned to not use the coronavirus public health emergency as a “business opportunity.” There are state rules that bar sellers from charging for goods or services that are more than 20 percent of the average price for those same things in the seven days preceding the declaration of the state of emergency.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro joins us on Tuesday’s Smart Talk to discuss what that means for Pennsylvanians.

Also, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reports 76 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in 14 Counties. Montgomery County is the current epicenter of the state’s exposure map, but other counties are seeing the number of presumed positives increase, as well.

A Cumberland County man who recently returned from Spain is one of the latest to test positive for the virus. The Carlisle-native is a student at the University of Pennsylvania and spent a week in Spain on spring break, along with nine fraternity brothers.

Within forty-eight hours of returning from Spain two of the students became symptomatic and tested positive for the virus. The Carlisle man also developed symptoms but encountered conflicting guidance when he arrived in the mid-state and sought testing.

The 21-year-old student and his mother appear on Tuesday’s Smart Talk.

Finally, dental service providers and patients are also grappling with how to manage care, and if they should seek it, during the coronavirus emergency. Appearing on Smart Talk is Dr. Charles Incalcaterra, DMD, President of the Pennsylvania Dental Association, to share the industry’s latest guidance.

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COVID-19, or the coronavirus, is more dangerous for older people. Unlike the flu or other illnesses, younger people haven’t gotten as sick or died from the virus at the same rate as those over the age of 70.

The Centers for Disease Control has said about 80% of the people who test positive for the coronavirus will experience mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. However, the illness has been more deadly for older patients who contract the virus.

As a result, nursing facilities, personal care homes and assisted living residences have taken precautions and limited visitations to keep the virus from spreading to vulnerable older or disabled residents.

Zach Shamberg, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association that advocates for care providers is on Monday’s Smart Talk to explain.

Also appearing on Smart Talk is Eric Martin, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Management at Bucknell University who studies disaster response. Dr. Jessica Ericson, MD., is a Pediatric Infectious Disease physician with Penn State Children’s Hospital and she appears on Smart Talk to discuss ways to mitigate viral exposure.

 

 

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Pennsylvania is blessed with abundant natural resources and bucolic scenery. But litter along the highways and byways is a persistent problem that mars the state’s natural beauty and costs taxpayers millions of dollars in clean-up.

It is estimated that over 51 billion pieces of litter land on U.S. roadways each year. The problem is so widespread that the Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation funded the PA Litter Research Study to gauge the impact here in Pennsylvania.

The study’s findings were released in February, reporting an estimated 502 million pieces of litter on Pennsylvania’s roads. The most common items are cigarette butts (37 percent) and plastics (30 percent), such as food packaging, bottles, and bags.

Researchers also recommend a plan to reduce litter and say that the first step is to change people’s behavior.

Appearing on Smart Talk Wednesday are Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell, Natasha Fackler, PennDOT Policy Director and Shannon Reiter, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful President.

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The 1986 explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear plant has been described as the world’s worst nuclear disaster. Chernobyl has that distinction based on the facts that the public knew immediately afterwards. What we know about Chernobyl now is that the disaster was much worse than what the world thought.

Journalist Andrew Higginbotham has provided a definitive narrative of what happened that led to the catastrophe in his best-selling book Midnight in Chernobyl — The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster.

In the book, Higginbotham meticulously describes how a combination of human errors, reactor design flaws and the Soviet Union’s secretiveness – even from its own nuclear engineers and plant workers – ended in explosions and a fire at Chernobyl. Officially, 31 people were killed or died as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, but more may have died. Many were injured and sickened.

Higginbotham recently appeared at Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg to discuss Midnight in Chernobyl. That conversation was recorded and can be heard on Tuesday’s Smart Talk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On Friday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf held a press conference to announce that two people in Pennsylvania have tested positive for the coronavirus. Over the weekend, health officials announced that four additional people are presumed positive, bringing the total to six.

State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, MD, explained that Pennsylvania health authorities first test potentially infected patients for the virus and then send samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the results. Levine says the state is monitoring people who may have come into contact with all six individuals who have tested positive.

Governor Tom Wolf also declared a disaster emergency on Friday and wants the state legislature to pass a proposal allowing him to declare a public health emergency, which would come with dedicated funding.

The viral outbreak began in China and is now a world-wide health threat. The CDC reports that this is an emerging and rapidly evolving situation and they will provide updates as they become available.

On Monday’s Smart Talk we’ll focus on the coronavirus with Dr. John Goldman, MD, an Infectious Disease specialist with UPMC Pinnacle and Transforming Health Reporter Brett Sholtis.

Pennsylvania Department of Health question line: 1-877-724-3258 and UPMC Pinnacle nurses advice line: 1-866-918-1591

 

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The field of candidates vying for the Democratic Presidential nomination has whittled down from a high of 25 in the beginning to three after the Super Tuesday primaries.

After Tuesday’s primaries in which he won 10 of 14 states, former Vice President Joe Biden is riding momentum and has the most delegates for the nomination.

Will Pennsylvania have a say in who the nominee is this year? The state’s late primary on April 28 is after most states have voted or caucused but Biden and his main rival Sen. Bernie Sanders might still be fighting for delegates by then.

Joining us on Friday’s Smart Talk to discuss the primary results and the road to the nomination is Dr. Fletcher McClellan, professor of Political Science at Elizabethtown College.

 

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