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Immersed in one of Pennsylvania&rsquo;s most intense coronavirus battles, Hazleton Mayor Jeff Cusat is tired.
				Because his city is one of the state&rsquo;s hotspots, he has rarely enjoyed a full night&rsquo;s sleep or an uninterrupted meal in well over a month.
				Most of his now-extended waking hours are devoted to a seemingly nonstop barrage of online meetings, conference and phone calls, emails and briefings to assess and respond to the latest developments. It&rsquo;s often 8 p.m. or later until he carves out time to consult with city department heads about both the coronavirus and usual city business that must keep going during the pandemic.
				&rdquo;I&rsquo;m a little worn out,&rdquo; the 44-year-old said, noting he is also wrestling with virus-related economic struggles with his rental properties, telemarketing company and three restaurants owned by family members.
				As of Friday, more than half, or 54%, of Luzerne County&rsquo;s 2,173 confirmed coronavirus cases were in Hazleton and its immediate area, state statistics show.
				Although case breakdowns by municipality are not publicly available, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has been releasing statistics by zip codes.
				The two zip codes covering Hazleton, the neighboring borough of West Hazleton and most of Hazle Township, which wraps around the other two, have a combined 1,173 confirmed cases, the state statistics say.
				The Hazleton area stands out on the state&rsquo;s zip code map as the largest dark-shaded spot for coronavirus cases based on population.
				From the start of the pandemic, Cusat has predicted his municipality would have the most county cases because the urban area has a high percentage of multi-family units situated close together and many residents working in factories and distribution centers in Hazle Township and West Hazleton.
				Coronavirus spread also has stemmed from a growing Latino population he now estimates at 60% of the city&rsquo;s population, which he believes is thousands higher than the latest 25,000 U.S. Census projection, he said. There were language barriers conveying pandemic messages and concerns about friends and family traveling back and forth from hard-hit New York City and parts of New Jersey, he has said.
				But Cusat offered another reason for Hazleton&rsquo;s higher numbers last week, saying it has been &ldquo;very aggressive&rdquo; with testing to capture as many cases as possible early in the pandemic, with two heavily marketed test sites run by Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton.
				The state figures show 2,100 were tested as of Friday in the two Hazleton area zip codes &mdash; 1,173 positive and 927 negative.
				In comparison, three zip codes covering the greater Wilkes-Barre area &mdash; 18701, 18702 and 18705 &mdash; completed a combined total 784 tests to date, or 1,316 less than the two Hazleton zip codes, as of Friday. Of those, 305 were positive, and 479 were negative, state data shows.
				&ldquo;We have done a lot more testing than many other areas. I don&rsquo;t see many other places that have done 2,000 tests,&rdquo; Cusat said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s part of the reason I think our numbers are much higher than those in some other parts of the county. I think our numbers are very realistic.&rdquo;
				He said he supports the state&rsquo;s new mass drive-through testing site at the Mohegan Sun Arena parking lot in Wilkes-Barre Township, saying widespread testing is needed elsewhere. While some have questioned why it wasn&rsquo;t located in Hazleton, Cusat said he wouldn&rsquo;t want it in his municipality because he already has a testing system set up.
				However, he was concerned the state site would increase difficulties obtaining enough tests in Hazleton. Cusat said he was pleased to learn late last week that Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton has access to more testing and is stepping up the screenings.
				Not afraid
				Lifelong city resident Carmella Yenkevich said the city has now become somewhat of a bubble due to intense coverage of its coronavirus battle, with non-residents more fearful of entering its boundaries.
				&ldquo;I think people think you will just step outside here and suddenly get struck and become sickened,&rdquo; said the 65-year-old.
				She said everyone must take precautions because the virus is present throughout the county, not just in Hazleton,
				Before the pandemic, Yenkevich walked several blocks to her part-time job at the downtown city active adult center. Furloughed due to the pandemic-related center closure, she still walks about two miles through the city for exercise each day but now wears a mask and keeps her distance from other pedestrians, sanitizing regularly.
				She also limits her grocery shopping to once every two weeks.
				Stressing every area has &ldquo;good and bad,&rdquo; Yenkevich said she loyal to her hometown, where she lives among many still-stately Victorian-era homes and is active with a group working to continue a performing arts center at the former historic Hazleton High School, a structure called &ldquo;the castle&rdquo; by natives.
				&ldquo;I like the people of Hazleton. The people here are just as fine as anywhere,&rdquo; Yenkevich said.
				Comfort food
				Jim Grohol is still dishing out his trademark hot dogs and other menu items through takeout at Jimmy&rsquo;s Quick Lunch on Broad Street.
				He&rsquo;s only allowing two customers in at a time, masks required, and has installed a plexiglass screen to act as a barrier at the cash register when customers are paying.
				Grohol reduced his hours and staff, with some workers requesting furlough because they are in the at-risk category for coronavirus or must care for elderly parents.
				On good days, he does about 50% of the business he had before. On slow days, it&rsquo;s 30 to 35%.
				His grandparents started the family restaurant business in 1937, and he expects his son eventually will take over as he did for his parents. Giving up is not an option, he said.
				&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say enough good things about my patrons. Quite often, people are standing outside waiting to get in,&rdquo; he said.
				Some are nervous about venturing out, while others defiantely say they feel like they are in Nazi Germany forced to wear masks, he said.
				Possibly in response to stress of the times, he&rsquo;s selling as much of his homemade rice pudding as he did before the pandemic.
				&ldquo;Rice pudding is comfort food. How can you beat it?&rdquo; he said.
				To date, he&rsquo;s only heard one out-of-the-area customer express hesitation about coming into Hazleton. The Scranton man said he was &ldquo;almost afraid to stop&rdquo; because of coronavirus coverage.
				&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if others have that perception, but the truth is everybody thanks us for being open,&rdquo; Grohol said.
				Hateful comments
				Elaine Maddon Curry, chair of the Hazleton Advisory Council focused on civil rights, said she and others are concerned the pandemic has flared hostile sentiment toward the city&rsquo;s Latino population.
				&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been seeing very hateful comments on social media,&rdquo; Maddon Curry said.
				In response, the council led by a group of area professionals released a letter urging residents to support each other instead of acting on &ldquo;misinformation and bias&rdquo; and reminding that resources are available for discrimination victims.
				The root of the problem is that many city residents worked in plants that failed to implement adequate coronavirus prevention measures early on, and workers were unaware of the threat or powerless to do something out of fear they&rsquo;d lose their jobs and income, she said.
				&ldquo;We had a lot of citizens who work in these plants getting the virus at work and bringing it to their families. That&rsquo;s why the spike in Hazleton is so bad,&rdquo; Maddon Curry said.
				Bob Curry, her husband and president of the Hazleton Integration Project, was incensed to learn three weeks ago that that 164 workers had tested positive for coronavirus at the Cargill Meat Solutions plant, prompting its temporary closure for cleaning and safety restructuring.
				&ldquo;A lot of people are starting to ask how it is that we can wake up one morning and spit our coffee across the table because we learn there are 164 cases in one single plant. If you don&rsquo;t see that as the problem, there&rsquo;s nothing we can do to change your mind,&rdquo; Curry said.
				The public only knows about that plant because it closed, but statistics have not been released for other factories and distribution centers, he said.
				State officials must figure out how such an outbreak could be permitted to occur and step up both tracking and more detailed reporting, he said.
				Both employees and the public should be informed of any buildings &mdash; no matter what business or entity they house &mdash; that have accelerating cases, he said, stressing confidentiality requirements are no longer a logical excuse once cases reach certain levels.
				&ldquo;Why is that not a legal requirement? Without such reporting, it spreads not only the disease, but also ill will toward each other because people do not have that information,&rdquo; Curry said.
				The Integration Project, which seeks to unite city residents of many different cultures, has been focused heavily on free food distributions during the pandemic because feeding the hungry has become an increased community need, Curry said.
				One day last week, the center gave away 350 boxes of food, using a drive-through system where masked volunteers deposited the items in vehicle trunks with no physical contact.
				&ldquo;If you have a heart beating in your chest and if you have a sense of what common humanity means, you understand these are very hard times and that you have to do what you can to make it easier for those less fortunate,&rdquo; he said.
				Worried for mom
				City resident Mark Rabo, 43, is convinced the virus spread largely stems from travel between the New York City region and Hazleton and too many structures converted to house multiple families.
				&ldquo;Social distancing is impossible when you have 15 to 20 people under the same roof. It made Hazleton the perfect hotbed for the coronavirus,&rdquo; Rabo said.
				Rabo said he is basing his assessment on what he has witnessed in the community and is not a racist. He said he is passionate about his concerns because he is fearful his immune-compromised, 68-year-old mother and other elderly residents will become infected, despite following all protocols.
				&ldquo;I am the son of immigrants, and I don&rsquo;t participate in identity politics,&rdquo; Rabo said.
				Cusat said he believes many factors made the city a &ldquo;petri dish,&rdquo; which is why he pushed for halting of vans from the New York City area and imposed a curfew, a requirement for social distancing outside homes and a ban on more than four non-relatives together in public, including inside parked vehicles.
				Like those elsewhere in the country, many city residents are focused more on blame because they are restless and frustrated, especially now that they have been &ldquo;cooped up and don&rsquo;t like it,&rdquo; the mayor said.
				&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter where it came from at this point. The fact is it&rsquo;s here, and we have to deal with it.&rdquo;

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Hazleton remains COVID-19 hot spot