Stop the Spread in Berks
Standing before a small crowd of media gathered the morning of April 16 inside Weaver’s Ace Hardware in Fleetwood, Berks County commissioners Chairman Christian Y. Leinbach held up a single sheet of paper.
It was a death certificate.
The death certificate belonged to an 89-year-old man who had the unfortunate distinction of being the 52nd victim in Berks County to have died of COVID-19.
“The numbers are bleak in Berks County,” he said. “And if we don’t get serious fast these numbers are going to get a lot worse.”
Leinbach then turned his attention to a series of large posters propped on an easel behind him depicting how bad the situation is and how bad the situation could get if people ignore directives to mitigate the spread of this coronavirus.
The models, which were created by the Institute for Health
Metrics and Evaluation at University of Washington, show that if trends continue the county could be in trouble when it comes to resources to fight the pandemic. The three resources it looks at includes total hospital beds, ICU beds and invasive ventilators.
Berks has 1,419 cases and 58 deaths, according to the latest figures reported Thursday by the state Department of Health and the county coroner’s office.
“Our numbers have gone up significantly in the last seven days,” he said. “This is going to be a problem for our health care providers in next couple of weeks if we fail to make the changes necessary to bring these numbers down.”
A new push
Leinbach said the county has been fielding calls for weeks from people who say that businesses and residents are not doing enough to stop the spread. And he agrees.
That was the reason the county launched a public awareness campaign this week designed to communicate the importance of promoting and enforcing effective health and safety standards.
The campaign, Do Your Part — Stop the Spread, was created to speak directly to business leaders and residents about the need to focus attention on meaningful actions they can take to help fight this invisible enemy.
The commissioners pointed to Edward and Christine Shenk as business leaders who are stepping up to meet that challenge. The couple owns Weaver’s Ace Hardware locations in Richmond Township, Sinking Spring and Douglassville.
The Shenks have installed stations for customers to wash their hands at the entrance to each store, placed Plexiglas at each cash register, instructed their workers to wear masks and encouraged their customers to practice social distancing while shopping.
“Our priority has always been the safety of our associates and our customers,” Edward Shenk said. “And we hope that people will see what we’re doing here and begin practicing it in all situations.”
Commissioner Kevin S. Barnhardt thanked Shenk for setting the tone for what all business owners should be doing in Berks.
“I see a lot of noncompliance out there,” he said. “And without taking these measures we’re not going to be able to get back to normal — which is what we all want.”
District Attorney John T. Adams said he is encouraging self-compliance by local businesses. He has advised law enforcement agencies across Berks who receive complaints that businesses are failing to follow safety standards should stop in and educate the owners.
“We need voluntary compliance,” he said.
Hospitals are committed
Commissioner Michael Rivera stressed that everyone has a role to play in helping to minimize the impact of the coronavirus and that individual behaviors matter.
They matter especially among the demographic most likely to survive an infection — the young and healthy — who may need to pay the closest attention to preventive measures. These are the people, he said, who may spread the coronavirus to those who are less likely to survive.
Rivera said slowing the spread is crucial to the health of the community. It is also crucial to alleviate the strain on the health care providers who have been preparing for a surge in coronavirus patients.
Representatives from Reading Hospital and Penn State Health St. Joseph said that while they have a sufficient number of ventilators and beds to meet patient needs right now they are monitoring the situation on an hourly basis.
Gregory Sorenson, vice president of medical affairs for Reading Hospital, encouraged everyone to do their part to flatten the curve so that the hospitals in Berks are not overrun with patients.
“If the peak continues to rise like it has, we do not have the sufficient amount of beds so we are opening up areas of the hospital to create more capacity. Those plans are in the developmental phase and we hope that we won’t have to do that.”
Sorenson said the biggest challenge that health care workers are facing is the shortage of personal protective equipment like face masks, medical gowns and face shields.
Jeffrey Held, vice president of medical affairs for Penn State Health St. Joseph, echoed that message.
“We are repurposing, resteralizing and reusing our personal protective equipment as a way to optimize our resources,” he said. “It is not the way that we’ve been trained but we understand that there is an international limited supply so that we have to make do with the resources we have.”
Held said the entire hospital staff, from the health professionals to the cleaning crew, are stepping up to make sure they’re prepared. But, he stressed, they can only do so much without the cooperation of individuals to do their part to stop the spread.