Azar

Azar

Rod Azar, a Clarks Summit resident, has spent more than a year informing the residents of the Abingtons and surrounding counties with daily COVID information.

“As a newly appointed Abington Heights School Board member, I was being asked to make extremely important COVID-related decisions which affected our community members and children,” said Azar. “The public guidance provided by the PA Department of Health on whether school districts should be virtual, hybrid or in person was based exclusively on county level data which to me was inadequate. I also wanted to know our local data for Clarks Summit and our surrounding county data. Once I determined how to gather and organize this more detailed information, I thought it was important to share with the community.”

He started posting the statistics on Oct. 20, 2020 and will continue to do so until at least the end of the 2020-2021 school year. You can find the the statistics Azar posts on Abington Heights Area – COVID Data group’s Facebook page.

“I post data for the counties of Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wyoming and Susquehanna and the zip codes comprising the Abington Heights School District,” he said. “The data includes the number of new COVID cases, current COVID incidence and positivity rates and current COVID hospital admission and ICU data. All the information is posted on a daily basis.”

He was appointed to the school board on Oct. 7, 2020, following another board member’s resignation. He is currently on the ballot as a cross-filed candidate for the upcoming May 18 primary election.

“Rod Azar has provided excellent and consistent reporting for months,” said Julie Manwarren who has 2 children in the Abington Heights School District. “The information he gathers is so valuable. Having facts specific to the Abingtons and Lackawanna County is helpful in understanding the impact of the spread of COVID here and assist families, businesses, schools and community organizations as they plan.”

“These are unprecedented times and the impact of this virus has affected everyone,” said Erica Gallagher who has two children in the Abington Heights School District. “So much information is being thrown out there and we need to make informal decisions based on certain information. The information Rod is researching and providing is invaluable not only to us as parent but our school district and community as a whole. It allows us to see how COVID is circulating in our community and compare the trends in the surrounding communities. These numbers allow us to make informed decisions and better intervention pertaining to our children’s health and safety.”

“We’ve certainly been forced to push the pause button on many parts of our lives and especially for our children,” said Azar. He and his wife Dr. Megan Zukoski Azar have three children in the Abington Heights School District. “COVID has been a horrible and tragic disease, but many people are also finding some silver linings including a better understanding of what’s important in their lives.”