The Week in Philly from KYW Newsradio

UPDATE: The Governor has extended the deadline for enforcement until Monday, March 23, at 8:00 AM. 

We know a bit more than we did last night about the ordered closure of non-life-sustaining businesses in Pennsylvania amid the coronavirus pandemi. And since then, some of the business types have switched categories. Ian Bush and Tom Rickert talk about the changes and wrap up one of the strangest weeks in the news we can remember.

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Protection asks businesses with questions as to whether their organization needs to close to email [email protected].

Any business interested in seeking a waiver to the order can reach out to the state directly by emailing [email protected] or calling 1-877-PA-HEALTH and select option 1.

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We don't hear a lot about the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic. At least, we didn't until COVID-19 started being the only thing we talked about. But there's a lot we can learn from what was "almost certainly the worst plague in human history," according to George Wohlreich, President and Chief Executive Officer of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Wohlreich joins KYW In Depth to tell us what happened back then and what we've learned from it.

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Can your blood type make you more susceptible to COVID-19? Why are men and women getting sick and dying at different rates? If we social distance well, how long will it take for things to go back to normal? Why do you need to stay 10 feet away from other people if you absolutely don't want to get sick? The answers to these questions and more come from Dr. Krys Johnson at Temple's Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. Johnson was also an Emerging Infectious Disease Fellow at Florida's Department of Health during the Zika outbreak.

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Congressman Andy Kim represents New Jersey's 3rd district. He is currently self-quarantining after he came into direct contact with another member of Congress who tested positive for COVID-19. Carol MacKenzie talked to Congressman Kim about what self-quarantining looks like, what's involved, and what kind of symptoms he's experiencing.

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Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has ordered the closure of all non-life-sustaining businesses starting at 8pm Thursday, March 19th. KYW Newsradio's Ian Bush, Charlotte Reese, and Tom Rickert break down the five-page list sent out by the governor's office to try and figure out what exactly is on the list of life-sustaining businesses, and what isn't.

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Ian Bush asks Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney questions live on KYW Newsradio, including about how Philadelphia is preparing for more cases of COVID-19, the additional measures the city is taking to combat the spread of coronavirus, and how the justice system is operating during a pandemic.

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We have a lot of questions about how this pandemic is affecting the economy, so we started by asking two economists from the Philly area some basic questions about the fallout from COVID-19. David Fiorenza is a Professor of Practice at the Villanova school of Business and Adam Pellillo is an Assistant Professor of Economics at La Salle University.

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SEPTA is changing how often the busses and trains run. KYW Newsradio's Mike DeNardo talked to SEPTA management and he joins KYW In Depth to report back on what the changes mean for riders.

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Gas stations are one of the critical businesses in New Jersey allowed to stay open at all hours. New Jersey is also the only state in the U.S. where it's illegal to pump your own gas. As a consequence, people who pump gas in the Garden State are now firmly on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, stuck between performing a critical job and trying to maintain social distancing recommendations. KYW Newsradio's Mike DeNardo went to a gas station to talk with one of the people helping keep New Jersey's cars and trucks on the road.

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The shelves at the grocery store where you normally find bottled water have been empty since people started stocking up for the COVID-19 pandemic. At the water utility company Aqua America, they've gotten some phone calls from people asking whether they should be concerned about coronavirus in drinking water, or if the virus could survive the water treatment process. Aqua America's Chief Environmental Officer Dr. Chris Crockett joins KYW In Depth to talk about how the utility cleans drinking water, why water treatment kills viruses, and how they're keeping employees safe.

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