The Spark

After three and a half years, most Americans are ready to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind them and have gone back to their pre-pandemic routines. For the most part, no one could blame them.

However, the COVID virus has not gone away and now in August 2023, hospitalizations to treat COVID have increased across the country, although not nearly at the level of other times during the last three years.

UPMC infectious disease specialist Dr. John Goldman appeared on The Spark Thursday and said,"We're seeing an increase in cases, but the absolute number of cases is still very low. It is nothing like the previous summers and it is night and day different than the previous winters...They are much less sick than they used to be. So, for example, it's unusual to see a COVID patient in our intensive care units."

Dr. Goldman indicated that the increase in cases isn't unusual,"What I have always expected is that this will turn into a disease that is essentially with us for the rest of our lives. But it will begin looking much more like a typical seasonal virus, something much closer to the flu. I do think we're probably going to see an increase in cases over the winter because we've seen increases in cases over the last previous winters, each previous winter. But I don't think that we're going to see the same kind of increase in hospitalizations or death."

Goldman was asked if COVID is seasonal why is it showing up in the summer,"It's been a hot summer and we have seen previous COVID surges, particularly in the South, particularly when it's hot or where it's hot, because people go inside because of air conditioning, because it's hot outside, they're spending less time outside, they go inside, they're packed closer together and the virus's, more efficiently transmit themselves."

Most of us can’t name the latest variant of the virus but it is a sub-variant of the Omicron variant that was widespread last year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that less than one-third of Americans are up-to-date with their COVID shots and that doesn't count a coming vaccine for the latest variants. Dr. Goldman said,"Up-to-date would really mean that you've gotten the latest bivalent vaccine, not the one that's coming out in the fall, but the one that is not the original strain. And thethe biggest difference in hospitalizations and mortality has been between people who are not vaccinated and those who have gotten the complete original series. There's always a little bit of extra protection with each booster, and there almost certainly will be a little bit more protection when you have the newest booster, which will be more like the variants that are actually circulating right now. However, the most important thing is to have a vaccine. That's where the mortality really starts to go down."

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The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on education in this country. More than three years after COVID first appeared in the U.S. and disrupted in-person classes, research still hasn’t concluded all the ways students were affected.

One thing we do know – chronic absenteeism has increased substantially. In some states more than others.

Chronic absenteeism may lead to a student quitting school altogether. However dropout rates seemed to have held steady.

In Pennsylvania that means 86% of students get their high school diplomas. But what about the other 14% who do drop out.

Communities in Schools Pennsylvania is an organization that works to prevent school dropouts.

With us on The Spark Wednesday was Lyndsey Sturkey, Vice President of Communities in Schools Pennsylvania, who described what Communities in Schools does to keep students in school,"We're working with our students one on one in these schools, in addition to students who may be struggling with attendance, we also speak with students about their academics as well. So if we see someone struggling, we can reach out to them and say, hey, what's going on? Is it a problem with the teacher or is it the subject matter that you're not understanding? What can we do to help you start to do better in these classes? You can advance to the next grade even if your ultimate plans are not to go to college. That's totally fine. Let's talk about things that you are interested in so that we can make sure that we can find an avenue for you after you graduate. We really try to stress to our students that regardless of what they decide to do after graduation, having that diploma is really key to moving forward in their life and thriving and succeeding."

Sturkey said there are other factors that lead to kids dropping out,"The COVID 19 pandemic has certainly exacerbated (the factors). But with the students that we're working with, we're seeing that they're dealing with a lot of housing instability. We're seeing a lot of transportation issues. We're seeing food insecurity. And all of those things are making it a lot harder for kids to get to school."

Sturkey was asked who is dropping out,"I think the data shows that this is disproportionately affecting Black and Latino students. But again, it's all students."

What are the students told about why it's important they get a diploma,"You could see not having a stable career. A few had dreams of perhaps leaving the area. You may not be able to do that if you don't if you've not graduated, if you don't allow yourself to dream big. And of all the possibilities that come with getting a diploma and moving forward in life, it could be kind of just continuing on in the same life that you've experienced before where it's the the crushing weight and burden of financial instability, not having a stable home. Not knowing where your next meal is coming from, not feeling that you have adequate clothing or housing. I mean, all of that can just continue if if we're kind of just going along in the same pattern."

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Word late last year that Lancaster Airport was the third busiest airport in Pennsylvania was a surprise to some. More than 97,000 planes departed and arrived at the airport in 2021. Not many of them were commercial carriers though. That could change.

Low-cost airlines are showing interest in providing service to Lancaster Airport with aircraft that could hold up to 150 passengers.

Ed Foster, Director of Lancaster Airport told us on The Spark Wednesday that's he's met with Allegiant, JetBlue, Breeze Airways, Spirit and Avelo Airlines -- all that expressed interest in Lancaster.

Foster indicated there is a market for commercial air service from Lancaster,"We do what we call air service market studies and we've done them for the last two years. I've been here three years this September, and we know that about 820,000 people a year travel from this area domestically in the United States and then about another 80,000 internationally. So about 900,000 people, total travel from this area out of there, only 10,000 travel from this airport. So a bulk of those, 99% of them are traveling to airports -- 30 miles to 150 miles away."

Destinations could include several in Florida like Orlando and Tampa and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Charleston and Nashville. Foster said fares would be comparable to larger airports and parking would continue to be free.

Some residents who live near Lancaster Airport say they're concerned about noise and their lives being disrupted. Foster said their concerns will be taken into consideration,"I honestly think they would just see a bigger airplane once every two days. These airlines that we've been talking to, the proposals that they say they would like to do is two to four airplanes a week to these destinations. So you would see one airplane every two days and you would have to almost be sitting waiting for it to land to catch it, because it would be inside and landed in 15 seconds and then it would be taken off an hour later after it reloads."

Foster added that he hopes airlines have signed a lease with the airport by late-winter or early spring of next year.

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America’s political landscape has changed in recent years. Political parties may not hold as much power as they once did, or do they?

It may depend on the party. Today’s Republican Party is firmly in the hands of former President Donald Trump – even with the numerous criminal indictments he faces. The Democratic Party may be a little more traditional in a sense.

Also, is there anything to laugh about in today's politics and what is the role of political humor?

Dr. Alison Dagnes, a professor of political science, Chair of the Political Science Department at Shippensburg University and author of three books weighs in on The Spark today.

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Walk through the woods or fields of Pennsylvania and you’ll thousands of plants, flowers and trees. Deer and other animals eat these plants as part of their regular diet.

What about humans though?

Do we have to eat just the plant-based food sold to us?

Our guest on The Spark says no, but you better recognize what's edible and what’s not.

Debbie Naha-Koretzky is known as The Wild Edibles Lady. She is a licensed Dietitian Nutritionist, a certified Rutgers Master Gardener, and a Pennsylvania Master Naturalist as well as the author of the book -- Foraging Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

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The Spotted Lanternfly is an invasive insect native to Asia that is just everywhere in Pennsylvania. That’s even though it was discovered just nine years ago in Berks County.

Spotted lanternfly feeds on sap from a myriad of plants but has a strong preference for plants important to Pennsylvania's economy, including grapevines, maples, black walnut, birch and willow. Spotted lanternfly's feeding damage stresses plants which can decrease their health and in some cases cause death.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture gave some unusual instructions to Pennsylvanians who see spotted lanternflys. We were told to smash them on sight.

The department has a weapon though – Lucky the Lanternfly sniffing dog. Shane Phillips Compliance and Enforcement Specialist, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture with Lucky.

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The Spark traveled to the Annual Festival for Nature and Art at MYO Park in Millersburg, Dauphin County last weekend. The festival is staged by the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art – one of the gems of Central Pennsylvania.

We learned about Ned Smith, one of Pennsylvania's most renowned outdoors/wildlife painters and naturalists.

Joining us on the program were John Laskowski, a friend of Ned Smith's and one of the original board members of the Ned Smith center and Adam Steppy, Marketing and program Coordinator at the Ned Smith Center.

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Hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and psilocybin were often the target of the war on drugs in the 1970s. That’s even though what are known as psychedelics, that altered users’ senses and perceptions were studied and researched extensively for their therapeutic potential in the 1950s until the 70s.

For the past decade, the psychedelics have been getting another look and how they may be used to treatment depression, anxiety or PTSD.

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a draft of guidelines for conducting clinical research with these drugs.

Dr. Jason Wallach, an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Studies at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia studies and develops psychedelic compounds to treat mental illness and joined us on The Spark Tuesday where he talked about what's changed in how the drugs are viewed since the War on Drugs,"These drugs are heavily demonized. They remain schedule one in the United States, which is high abuse potential. And no recognized medical use, essentially, I think would change a number of things. And it's complicated. But I think one of the major ones was that science sort of advanced. There were a number of pioneers who did very well done, controlled studies starting in the nineties, but continuing up to modern times, demonstrating that these compounds can be used safely in controlled clinical situations. And not only that, they show very encouraging and promising therapeutic potential in a number of areas where our current therapeutic interventions fall short."

Wallach was asked what impact the hallucinogens have on the user,"They're classified as hallucinogens because often they'll cause visual, auditory, tactile hallucinations and not hallucinations in the sense, for example, that you would see someone who's not there and think that that's a real person, right? It's things like patterns in the walls, in the walls might appear to breathe. So just distortions in perception. They also stimulate changes in thought. People will have sort of what appear to be like revelations about life and their personal history. And so it can cause very profound alterations in thought as well.

Wallach added that these drugs are not physically addictive.

Wallach said there are still a lot of unknowns about how the psychedelics affect the brain and whether it's unique but described what research has found with those who suffer from mental illness,"What we do know is studies have been done, for example, where after a psychedelic, people will have a more positive outlook on things, if they're shown sort of ambiguous stimuli, they'll rate it more positively or ambiguous faces. They'll write them more positively. So many people think it's sort of allows a shift in your perspective, your outlook, maybe, it's not so much there's changes in the brain that alleviate the pathology, assuming you know that's the case, it may be that it alters your interpretation of the world in a way that's therapeutically beneficial."

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The Spark traveled to the Annual Festival for Nature and Art at MYO Park in Millersburg, Dauphin County. The festival is staged by the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art – one of the gems of Central Pennsylvania.

We learned about reptiles and snakes, and how they help the land inside and around the nature preserve.

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The Pennsylvania State Police are three weeks into a pilot program for state troopers in Troop H, in Carlisle to wear body cameras.

The proposed plan is for troopers at all 87 patrol stations statewide to wear body cameras.

This is new for the state police but not in law enforcement where many local police officers have been wearing body cameras for years. Lt. Adam Reed, Director, Communications Office, Pennsylvania State Police said on Monday's The Spark that cost if the reason state police have not implemented body cameras up until now. He added that $21 million has been budgeted over the next five years for the cameras and infrastructure.

Reed indicated the pilot program in Carlisle is expected to last from 60 to 90 days. After that, some 4,700 troopers may be using the body cameras for investigations, training or in the case when a citizen makes a complaint against police.

On another topic, nine people were killed in three separate crashes on Interstate 81 last week. Accidents on I-81 occur on a daily basis. Lt. was asked why there are so many,"A lot of it has to do with sheer volume on that roadway. Anyone that has traveled or travels that on a regular basis could really attest to just the volume of traffic that seems to be there at all hours of the day."

Reed said most of the crashes are due to speed or motorists driving too fast for conditions.

I-81 has a lot of truck traffic which adds to the volume, but Reed said drivers just have to be careful when they're on the road,"If you travel those interstates here in the area on a regular basis, be mindful of trucks. Don't make sudden lane changes and be sure that the driver could see you if you're changing lanes. If you're following the truck, increase your following distance behind the truck -- certainly don't tailgate because the driver of that tractor trailer probably can't see you if you're too close to that truck and certainly slow down. Also, it's important, it seems like common sense, but common sense isn't so common sometimes. Limit distractions, put down your cell phone, really focus at the task at hand."

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