>>Berks County Working Towards Opening Its Own Health Department
(Reading, PA) -- Berks County Commissioners are putting plans together to open the county's own health department. The county commissioners announced recently that they are looking to hire an outside company to see if the county needs a health department after they received criticism for not having one during the COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt says the study will cost the county about 150-thousand-dollars that will be paid for by funding from the federal government's American Rescue Plan.