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Curfew declared as Hazleton is identified as coronavirus hot spot

The mayor of Hazleton has called for a curfew that will begin Saturday night and the Luzerne County manager is calling for help from the National Guard.

HAZLETON, Pa. — Health professionals say the majority of Luzerne county's coronavirus cases are in the Hazleton area and the numbers are growing quickly.

The mayor of Hazleton will enact a curfew for residents on Saturday at 8 p.m. along with other rules that will be enforced by police.

Luzerne County has asked the governor to send in the National Guard. Other lawmakers there say there are many factors that led to Hazleton being a hot spot for COVID-19 and now they are trying best they can to combat them.

Health professionals at the Lehigh Valley Hospital in Hazleton have announced the city is a COVID-19 hot spot and are urging the public to follow the guidelines and mandates put in place by the governor's office and the Department of Health.

RELATED: Officials: Spike in COVID-19 cases in Hazleton due to failure to social distance

"Now we're looking at our numbers and we're in crisis mode because we're seeing that Hazleton, out of all Luzerne County, that Hazleton is really going to be ground zero for this," said State Rep. Tarah Toohil, (R) 116 District.

Rep. Toohil says there are many factors that may have led to this including commuters to New York and New Jersey that live in Hazleton, the large Spanish-speaking population not getting the message from the Department of Health properly, and their work environments.

"Looking at our numbers and how bad they are and that the numbers are affecting the Spanish-speaking community that works in the industrial parks, we need to get that information out there and we're asking employers to take immediate action and also to consider if they can hit the pause button," Rep. Toohil said.

"We can't just close the factories, we can't close the interstates, we can't close the borders, and I don't think that people realize that we don't have those powers and it's out of our jurisdiction," said Hazleton Mayour Jeff Cusat.

"We have a lot of industrial plants where management was not following the OSHA guidelines and the CDC recommendations, so right now we're trying to do clean up here and move forward," Rep. Toohil added.

Toohil says lawmakers are working with companies to urge them to follow social distancing guidelines and Mayor Cusat is doing what he can to enforce social distancing in public with a curfew and the prohibition of any public gatherings of more than four individuals in public or in parked cars in the city.

"People just need to know that the problem is here. It's going to get worse before it gets better. We all need to keep working together on it," said the mayor.

Officials say they know where their weaknesses are in terms of getting all the proper messaging out to the Spanish-speaking community in the greater Hazleton area.

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