HAZLETON, Pa. — Before a parade honoring health care workers in Hazleton on Tuesday, Newswatch 16 caught up with Mayor Jeff Cusat to see how things are going in in the city.
"Hazleton continues to test at a high rate of positives. The testing for a while was down because of the amount of testing kits that we had," said Cusat. "Since then, the hospital has received more testing kits, and we began mass testing over the weekend. We're hoping to get a more accurate number. The more testing, the more data that we have, the better position we are in to make more determinations moving forward."
Like, to make decisions about when to lift a city-wide curfew aimed at limiting gatherings in public and in cars, as well as lowering the chances of police interactions with residents.
"I guess it's working. Prior to the curfew going into effect, Hazleton was doubling every two days. Since then, the rate has decreased. However, we are not out of the woods," added Cusat.
Members of the community are showing support for the people working in the city during this crisis. Cusat says this strength in the community is important and will be needed for the remainder of this health crisis.
"We still have a lot of people testing positive. I believe over 60 percent of Hazleton tests were coming back positive. Almost 4% of our population has tested positive. 10% of our police department is out, tested positive, and over 40% of the department has lost time at some time during this epidemic," said Cusat.
While the Hazleton area has around 1,200 cases that's only half of the Luzerne County total, the rest of the county on its own still has more than 1,000 cases.
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