Allentown swearing-in ceremony will be off limits to public because of COVID-19 concerns; only family members will be allowed to attend

Morning Call - 12/30/2021

Only family members of newly elected Allentown officials will be invited to attend their swearing-in ceremonies in person Monday.

Incoming Allentown communications director Genesis Ortega said Thursday that mayor-elect Matt Tuerk will limit attendance at his swearing-in ceremony because of the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country.

“We’re mostly concerned about people attending New Year’s Eve events and then coming to a big event to spread COVID,” Ortega said, adding that mask wearing will be strictly enforced at the ceremony.

Tuerk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pennsylvania reported 19,436 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, surpassing by almost 2,000 cases a record that was set just the day before. Lehigh County ranks seventh out of the 67 Pennsylvania counties for the highest rate of reported cases over the past seven days.

The city will swear in two new officials this Monday: Tuerk and council member-elect Natalie Santos. The swearing in will be bilingual, Ortega said, with Michael D’Amore swearing in the new officials in English and Rashid Santiago in Spanish. Both are district judges in Lehigh County.

Though the ceremony is off limits to the public, it can be livestreamed beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Monday at the following link: https://allentownpa.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.

Morning Call reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at 610-820-6681 and liweber@mcall.com.