Sen. Bob Casey, North Huntingdon mother highlight need for continued pandemic relief

Victoria Murrell had her ducks in a row last winter.

The 32-year-old from North Huntingdon had spent four years waiting tables and attending classes at Seton Hill University on a full academic scholarship. She was on track to graduate with a degree in human resources. Then the covid-19 shutdown hit.

Suddenly, the single mother who has worked since 15 found herself unemployed, juggling college classes, homeschooling her daughter, Rilee, and wondering how they’d survive.

CARES Act pandemic unemployment assistance — scheduled to expire for more than 9 million Americans this month — helped keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, Murrell said. Now she hopes Congress will extend it once again, as she begins her search for work.

Murrell, who graduated from Seton Hill last week, participated in a panel discussion Tuesday with U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. The Scranton Democrat is among those pushing for passage of a covid-19 relief bill before Congress adjourns for the Christmas holiday.

Also on Casey’s panel were Dr. Olive Stanford, founder of the Black Doctors Covid-19 Consortium, and Marc Stier, an economist with the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.

Casey said the covid-19 vaccine offers hope. But he said stories like those Murrell, Stanford and Stier shared underscore the toll the virus continues to exact and the need for relief.

“We are still in the worst part of the pandemic. And it’s likely to get worse in the next couple of weeks,” Casey said.

Stanford, a Philadelphia pediatric surgeon who trained in Pittsburgh, said she gave up her practice to provide covid-19 tests and raise funds to serve high-need populations after learning thousands lacked access to tests the federal government said would be free. Residents in underserved communities in southeastern Pennsylvania have lined up for hours at her pop-up clinics to gain access to tests that would have cost them $200 elsewhere, Stanford said.

“I have people lined up in the rain and the cold to get tested. When I have people 75-, 80 years old lined up to get a test, something is wrong with what we’re doing,” Stanford said.

She said money for testing and public education on the vaccine must be included in the next relief bill if officials are serious about bringing the virus under control.

Meanwhile, Stier said the economic toll of the virus is growing.

“We don’t have precise Pennsylvania data yet, but our estimate is 160,000 Pennsylvanians have already exhausted their unemployment and 500,000 are at risk of doing so sometime soon,” Stier said.

Moreover, up to a half million state residents are at risk of losing their homes when the moratorium on evictions and foreclosures expires this month.

Stier said the state, which used CARES Act money to backfill its budget rather than fund relief, is in no condition to provide aid. He said the state’s use of $5 billion in one-time money to balance its budget this year bodes ill next year for state-funded programs, as well as public employees such as police, firefighters, EMTs and teachers.

Although Congress has balked at providing aid to state and local governments, Casey said it appears lawmakers will act on a limited $748 billion relief bill this week that would include unemployment assistance, aid for health care and virus distribution and assistance to small businesses.

Even as his panelists discussed their needs, a bipartisan bill to set aside specific money for vaccine education and outreach — similar to the kind of needs Stanford outlined — was moving in Congress.

U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-Blair County, a physician whose district takes in a vast swath of southern Pennsylvania from from Derry Township to Chambersburg, was among the sponsors introducing the bill.

Joyce, a conservative Republican and ardent supporter of President Trump who joined 126 Republicans in a recent legal challenge to the Nov. 3 election, said promoting the vaccine is key to rebuilding communities and saving lives.

“Like many Americans, I am planning to take the vaccine as soon as I am eligible,” Joyce said. “It is imperative that the American people have confidence in the safety and efficacy of the covid-19 vaccine. To gain their trust, we must cut through misinformation and ensure that Americans have the facts about this vaccine and its lifesaving potential.”