Community leaders in partnership with Blue Ridge Cable 13 and East Stroudsburg University hosted a panel to cover impacts of COVID-19 in the Pocono Region. The briefing will occur every Friday for the duration of the pandemic to keep the Poconos updated.

Chris Barrett, president of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, said one contributing factor attributed to Monroe County’s high percent of positive cases is the lack of commitment to social distancing.

“About 35% percent of Monroe County is social distancing; we really need to get that number up - we get that number up, it’s really going to reduce the impact on our community when it comes to COVID-19,” said Donald Seiple, President of St. Luke’s Monroe Campus.

Elizabeth Wise, president of Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono, discussed the positive momentum health care workers are producing in treating COVID-19 patients.

“As we are learning more and gaining more experience treating patients, we are really seeing some positive outcomes. More recently, we have successfully taken patients off the ventilator; and honestly that was a celebration, and really is a testimony to our front-line care providers.”

Health concerns as well as financial concerns are at an all-time high within the region, with nonessential businesses still under mandated closings.

Rep. Rosemary M. Brown expressed the implications of the unemployment rate in the state.

“To help replace some of the lost income due to the COVID crisis - the federal government provided $2 trillion to the states to expand our unemployment.

“Please know that PA is extremely overwhelmed,” Brown said. “We’ve had over a million applications at this time, the highest of any state in the county. Unfortunately it may be a little slower, however the state has hired additional staff to help process these applications.”

Barrett closed the panel with information about the Poconos Mountains United Way Crisis Response Fund.

“The fund has been set up to help folks who are having some problems right now with food, homelessness, almost anything. This fund has been put into place to fill the gap, and we would hope that if you have some issues, that you would get in contact with the Pocono Mountains United Way.”

For more information, go to https://poconounitedway.org.

See the weekly COVID-19 briefings at https://www.poconomountains.com/covid-19.