Category: Community News

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Community News Coronavirus Health

Pregnancy reveals how bad blacks are getting COVID-19

Normal everyday people like you or I aren’t rushing to get antibody testing, but it seems pregnant women don’t have an issue with it. 

Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine have been collecting data on this and came up with some interesting findings…

  • Black and Hispanic pregnant women in Philadelphia tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus five times as often as their white counterparts
  • One in 10 Black and Hispanic pregnant women tested positive for exposure to the virus, compared with one in 50 white pregnant women and one in 100 Asians.

Penn reiterates the reasons why and how black and hispanic patients have worse access to health care, on average, and that some may be mistrustful of the health-care system and less likely to get tested.

The pregnant women in the study, on the other hand, represented an unbiased cross-section of the population, as the blood samples came from all those who delivered babies at Pennsylvania Hospital and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania from April 4 to June 3. The nearly 1,300 samples were collected for the purpose of obstetric care, and thus no consent was needed for the subsequent testing for coronavirus antibodies.

Categories
Community News Coronavirus Health

‘EU’ wins the battle over COVID-19

Chester’s Emmanuel ‘EU’ Gilbert was one of the first people in Chester to get COVID-19. Even before the county started taking count, he had it. He became the poster guy as the one who got COVID that made it real for a lot of us who may have been in denial in the early days of the outbreak.

Every update I got was worse than the one before. He spent nearly a month on a respirator. On two separate occasions I got calls that he wasn’t expected to make it through the night. I got to the point of only wanting to hear he didn’t make it or he was released from the hospital because the updates were too upsetting.

In the past couple weeks I got reports that folks were receiving phone calls from him. And then early this morning I saw him being wheeled out of Taylor Hospital on Fox News. I’m not accustomed to getting all emotional at 4:45am, but my oatmeal had to wait while I pumped my fist right along with him. Finally, some happy news in these couple months of mounting sadness.

https://www.fox29.com/news/pa-man-returns-home-after-29-days-on-ventilator-surviving-covid-19

Big Homie is home!

Categories
Community News Coronavirus Opinion

Governor Wolf just became aware of minority COVID-19 issues in Pennsylvania

March 23 there were 2 COVID-19 cases in Chester and the mayor said he intended to request testing in Chester. https://wp.me/p2kkJO-75y. 

We learned at the last city council meeting on April 21 that the city still does not have a testing sight.

Today, we’re at 175 cases, and we learn from the Delaware County Daily Timesthe Governor’s new chief concern is minority communities. 

Categories
Community News Coronavirus Health Opinion Politics

No one would allow more pollution during a pandemic, would they?

Some people call them the Environmental Pollution Agency because the EPA is responsible for determining how much pollution an industry is allowed to emit before their pollution is deemed harmful to the environment and a health hazard, especially to the people who live nearby. Companies are issued permits that outline the rules to which a company can pollute and still operate within the law.

When done fairly, this process works pretty good. Of course, no amount of pollution is good and it’s virtually impossible for a smoke stack not toss out some pollutants.

Each state has an environmental agency that does the dirty work under EPA guidance at issuing these permits along with regulating industries to operate within the permit limits. When companies disobey, they get fined and if they continue to disobey, they can be put out of business.

Until now.

Categories
Community News Coronavirus Government Health Opinion

Has Chester started COVID-19 testing yet?

On March 23, Mayor Kirkland sent out a press release saying he intended to request COVID-19 tests for Chester. Those aren’t my words. This is from his press release. https://wp.me/p2kkJO-75y

I don’t know if he still intends to request; has requested; had his request denied; or the tests are on the way. There hasn’t been an update on the city’s daily updates regarding his intent to request or another press release to update us. We’ve never heard from the Chester Bureau of Health. I don’t know where to turn for answers.

One thing is for certain. COVID-19 in Chester is on the rise.

  • April 8 – 14 cases.
  • April 9 – 28 cases.
  • April 16 – 61 cases.
  • April 17 – 71 cases.
Categories
Community News Coronavirus Opinion

DELCO COVID-19 map jumping 70 new cases a day

It seems like only a couple days ago Upper Darby was the only municipality in Delaware County in red. Now, 12 are red and they found a new color for Upper Darby when they topped 50 cases.

Chester sits at 8-cases which is trending toward 20 by the weekend (oh, I said I would stop predicting).

Let’s see how long Rutledge, Upland, Marcus Hook, and Lower Chichester can fend off the virus. 

With 70 news cases popping up in Delco each of the last 2-days, the curve isn’t getting any flatter. 

Stay home. Stay safe. 

Categories
Community News Coronavirus Government Opinion

West Chester lays off borough employee differently than Chester City due to coronavirus

For my out of town readers, Chester, PA and West Chester, PA are separate municipalities, located in two separate counties, separated by about 18 miles. Chester City is in Delaware County and West Chester borough is in Chester County. These two places couldn’t be more different in demographics, wealth disparity, and livability. Yet, one thing seems common: both municipalities need to lay-off their staffs.


I was disappointed at the lack of information coming out of Chester City Hall regarding their layoff edict last week, and unlike Chester City, West Chester provides a lot of context to who, how, and why they’ve made the staff cuts they’ve made due to the coronavirus.

Let’s assume Chester City faced many of the same issues as I share what West Chester government officials had to say about their layoffs in today’s Delaware County Daily Times and Daily Local.

Categories
Business Community News Coronavirus Family Health

Chester Water Authority is turning on water to delinquent customers during the coronavirus

How are you going to wash your hands if you have no water? Chester Water Authority recognizes the situation some customers are in and are showing compassion in their humanitarian gesture of getting water to every customer in their system.

Chester Water Authority suspended turn-offs as of March 13, 2020.  Since then they have contacted all the customers that they had listed in our system as turned-off.  All of those customers who responded had their water service restored.

CWA is still fully operational.  They continue to respond to request for new services, with same day service.  They also continue to respond to issues of leaks that are outside of the property, with same day service.  And of course any needed emergency repairs to their system are being handled promptly.
Customers should know that for any water emergencies please call 1-800-793-2323 #9.  For billing questions or any other non-emergency customer service inquiry please visit www.chesterwater.com and click on “Contact Us” at the top of the web page.

Categories
Community News Coronavirus Opinion Politics

Should Chester City be handling City Council meetings differently during coronavirus?

With Chester City Hall being closed to the public, city officials conducted their city council meeting to an empty room but broadcasted it on FacebookLive. My only issue had to do with how difficult it was to hear what was being said, and I offered a suggestion how to fix that.


I was encouraged to see so many people watched the meeting according to the number of views the Facebook page displayed. (However, I think they register a view after only 3-seconds of viewing).


One of my subscribers sent me information the state of Pennsylvania put out concerning public meetings during the coronavirus crisis. I copy & pasted it below for you to read. You decide if Chester City is following the advice from the state or not.

Categories
Community News Coronavirus Opinion Politics

I wish there was more information on Chester City worker layoffs

I’ve been laid off a few times. It’s humiliating and confusing, especially if it’s your first time. Once you’ve been through it once, you are less stressed and somewhat comfortable navigating all the baggage that unemployment dumps on you.


I’ve always struggled with the term ‘laid-off.’ A lay-off could be seasonal and have you out of work until business picks up. I guess that’s called a temporary lay-off these days. Yet, folks get straight up fired with no hopes of being rehired and it’s still called a lay-off. And then there’s something called unpaid leave. Somehow, that’s different from a temporary lay-off.


Regardless of how they describe it, when you’re laid off, you are out of work.