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Antibody treatment proves effective

Rising rates of vaccinations against COVID-19 across Pennsylvania and the country are certainly cause for celebrating — and bring much-needed hope for the return of the kind of summer activities and gatherings that we’ve all longed for. But as our own data show, some vaccinated people remain extremely vulnerable to the virus — and a still sizable number of Americans indicate they may not get vaccinated. That’s why any “return to normal” will require multiple strategies for protecting the people in our communities. UPMC has focused on providing a highly effective ...

After verdict, US still has work to do

Now a nation that was holding its breath for justice can exhale. In one of the most significant racial justice cases in U.S. history, a white Minneapolis police officer has been convicted of murdering an unarmed, handcuffed Black man. A diverse 12-member jury of Minnesotans found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter on Tuesday. And the image of Chauvin driving his knee into the neck of George Floyd for nine minutes and 29 seconds is forever seared into the American and global psyche. Hennepin ...

Schools can’t make up their own mask rules

Pennsylvania’s public and private educational institutions have spent 2020-21 stuck between the rock of health officials’ guidance and the hard place of parents who want normalcy restored at their kids’ schools. But we believe what happened this spring at Beaver County Christian School carries an important lesson — that school officials who choose to improperly administer or liberally interpret state mandates to placate parents do so at their own risk. In August, the Pennsylvania Health Department announced that students would need to wear masks at all times. There were a ...

Hats off to township supervisors

You may read about them in the newspaper or see them along local roads, plowing snow in the winter or patching potholes in the spring. They’re your township supervisors and staff, and while you may not know them personally, these public servants show up each and every day with one goal in mind: to build a better community for you, your family, and your neighbors. As Pennsylvania celebrates Local Government Week, this is the perfect opportunity for you to better understand the critical role your township and its officials play in the commonwealth’s governing system. Established ...

In support of train station tourism plan

For more years than we want to remember, it has seemed as if salvation for the historic downtown Wilkes-Barre train station was always just out of reach. After interminable legal delays over development of surrounding parcels, and then a stalemate with the previous mayor over reprogramming an idle $1 million state grant, 2020 brought rays of hope. New Mayor George Brown signaled to developer George Albert that he supported transferring that grant to the project, and on a hot July day Albert and a team of volunteers clawed back the boards and went into the Victorian structure to begin ...

A ‘Swift’ approach to pandemic

Nearly three centuries ago, the Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift wrote an essay, “A Modest Proposal,” in which he advocated that Ireland’s poor families sell their infants to the rich as food. The point of his straight-faced advocacy for infanticide and cannibalism was inequality, an issue that persists today. Let’s imagine that Swift or one of his successors landed in America today, in the midst of a pandemic, and surveyed our society and its challenges. One issue certain to attract his attention would be the elderly, who serve little purpose except to occupy space ...