Rep. Wild Holds Fifth COVID-19 Response Call with Local and State Stakeholders

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Susan Wild (PA-07) convened her fifth bipartisan working group call with Pennsylvania officials, as well as representatives from the health care, education, business, and emergency sectors. Nearly 40 community and state leaders are part of the working group focused on continued communication and collaboration between federal, state, and local officials and stakeholders.

“Right now, my top concern is making sure the relief guaranteed through the CARES Act is made easily accessible to our community. I am continuing to advocate directly to the administration about our state and community’s needs and am working with my colleagues on both the state and federal level to make these processes more efficient,” Wild said. “I am also focusing heavily on workplace protections for our frontline workers, both in the medical field as well as grocery workers, truck drivers, etc. This issue is at the forefront of everyone’s minds and I am taking it incredibly seriously.”

Leaders from each sector provided the following information and updates:

Health Care Sector

Our hospitals delivered promising news of a slight slowing in the increase of cases, indicating that our community and state’s stay at home efforts to flatten the curve have been paying off. At St. Luke’s University Health Network, they have managed to extubate more than 20 patients with the hope they will be able to fully recover. The Greater Lehigh Valley hospitals continue to display outstanding resolve, and fortunately the 10-hospital system in Pennsylvania’s 7th District has allowed for overwhelmed hospitals to offload patients to other sites and share necessary equipment. Both St. Luke’s University Health Network and Lehigh Valley Health Network expressed that they currently have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) for their frontline workers and have contingency plans in place in the event of a surge.

Elected Officials

Concerns over the unemployment compensation process have been received in large volume by our state and local representatives. As of this week, Pennsylvania has received over one million unemployment claims, and the state has been hiring and shifting workers from other departments as necessary in order to process those claims as efficiently as possible. As these workers get through the initial backlog, the process should continue to improve.

Education Sector

This week, Governor Wolf announced that Pennsylvania schools will remain closed for the rest of the academic year. Schools in the Greater Lehigh Valley are continuing to experience a surge in school meal program participants. Our community has continued to step up to support one another and individuals are making homemade masks for food service personnel at meal distribution sites. Many school districts are reporting enough food to feed all participants each week, and while PPE is currently not at dire levels for all districts this is not universal and they continue to warn of diminishing supplies as this crisis continues.

Business Sector

The major concerns from the business and workforce sector continue to surround small business relief, Paycheck Protection Program, and unemployment compensation for independent contractors. Throughout the week, Wild has heard from businesses, local officials, and individuals about the application process for small business loans and will continue to work to address questions about when the relief guaranteed through the CARES Act will be fully accessible. The Small Business Administration was able to begin processing loan applications this week but is significantly overwhelmed by the number of applicants.  From state officials, Wild has heard promising news that independent contractors and individuals who are self-employed will be able to apply for unemployment compensation hopefully by next week.

LANTA reports that they have received a shipment of face shields for their drivers and have been able to secure the necessary amount of face masks courtesy of local donations. LANTA drivers continue to operate on the front lines of this pandemic and are providing essential service for people during this crisis.

Please visit Wild’s Coronavirus Resource Page for information and updates.

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