Cars line up at a drive through coronavirus test station in the parking lot at Citizens Bank Park.
Emma Lee / WHYY
Life during coronavirus: the Pennsylvania shutdown in pictures
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Keystone Crossroads Staff Report
Emma Lee / WHYY
Cars line up at a drive through coronavirus test station in the parking lot at Citizens Bank Park.
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Like many Americans, the Marley-Williams family has been forced suddenly to adjust to life in the new normal.
During Pennsylvania’s coronavirus shutdown, the Philadelphia family is facing unexpected pressures. Maxx Stoyanoff-Williams lost his job as a bar manager at a restaurant downtown, and his wife, Heather Marley, an art director, is working from home in Roxborough — multitasking between her job and the couple’s 3-year-old daughter Charliegh, who is now out of day care.
Jessica Kourkounis / Keystone Crossroads
The Marley-Williams family in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.
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- Art director Heather Marley works remotely from home while she is isolated at her Roxborough home.
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- Art director Heather Marley works remotely from home while she is isolated at her Roxborough home. Her daughter Charleigh is seen here visiting her at her desk.
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- 3-year-old Charliegh Marley-Williams is isolated at her Roxborough home instead of going to daycare or school now. Her dad Maxx Stoyanoff-Williams, takes care of Charleigh, who they call Chuck, while he is laid off from his bar manager job at Milkboy on South Street.
Similar scenes are unfolding across the city and state, with people being creative with how they deal with isolation and remote connection in the effort to slow the spread of the pandemic.
In the Prell household in Germantown, family members have carved out different corners of the house to focus on their work.
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- Riley Prell, a high-school freshman at Science Leadership Academy, is isolated at home with his two parents and his college-aged sister.
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- Michaela Prell, Riley’s sister, is a senior at Sarah Lawrence College. She set up a make-shift desk in her old bedroom since school shut down.
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- Dad Michael Prell, who works in IT, moved his home office to the living room to have more human contact with his family and better sunlight.
On Wednesday, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia canceled all Holy Week and Easter services. In the Lehigh Valley, some Christian church services have been held at a drive-in movie theater that allows people to worship from their cars.
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- A parishioner raises their hands as they sit in their cars during Bethany Wesleyan Church’s Sunday worship service Mar. 22, 2020, at Becky’s Drive-In in Walnutport, Pennsylvania. Concerns over the coronavirus have closed churches in an effort to avoid gatherings of large crowds.
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- Bethany Wesleyan Church holds Sunday worship service Mar. 22, 2020, at Becky’s Drive-In in Walnutport, Pennsylvania. Concerns over the coronavirus have closed churches in an effort to avoid gatherings of large crowds.
Across the country, kids have been playing games such as rainbow scavenger hunt as a way of maintaining connection and joy while keeping social distance.
Kimberly Paynter / WHYY
Bowie Moon Porter drew this rainbow in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood
Jessica Kourkounis / Keystone Crossroads
A rainbow drawn in a South Philadelphia window.
In West Philadelphia, Geremiah Edness, 26, a freelancer in film and photography, is staying in a friend’s Airbnb during the city’s stay-at-home order. “Feeding my creativity and not becoming complacent is my biggest challenge — it’s so much easier to Netflix the day away,” he said.
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- Geremiah Edness, 26.
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- Geremiah Edness, 26.
Eleanor Alter, 82, is spending her time isolated at home drawing, painting and playing music. The classically trained musician lives with her husband and two German shepherds in Philadelphia. “I’m not at all afraid. If I got coronavirus, I’m very well, I’d get rid of it,” she said.
Jessica Kourkounis / Keystone Crossroads
Eleanor Alter, 82, is spending her time isolated at home drawing, painting and playing music.
The statewide shutdown order has been hard on both people and economies — including parents choosing between work and caring for their children, small businesses, front-line workers who can’t stay home, and children who rely on school for free meals.
Norristown resident Lakeyia Johnson had just reentered the workforce after a serious illness, but school closings due to coronavirus are putting the single mother in a bind.
“It’s going to be hard on my family,” she said.
Kimberly Paynter / WHYY
Norristown resident Lakeyia Johnson just reentered the workforce after a serious illness, but school closing due to COVID-19 are keeping her children and Johnson home.
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- A SEPTA rider dons a surgical mask.
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- Jesse Tobin, from Primordia Mushroom Farm in Lenharstville, wears gloves and a mask as she sells to customers Mar. 21, 2020, at the Easton Farmers’ Market in Easton, Pennsylvania which is the oldest, continuous open-air market in the country. Tobin says most of her family farm’s business comes from selling to restaurants and that they’ve lost 80% of their revenue in just the last two days. Tobin says of being able to still be able to sell at the Easton Farmers’ Market: “This has been great to have because it’s all we got.” Communities across the Lehigh Valley are adjusting to life during the coronavirus pandemic that is impacting the daily lives of Pennsylvania residents both socially and economically.
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- Terra Cafe co-owner Manuel Fresneda puts up a sign that advertises curbside pick-up and delivery for their business Mar. 21, 2020, in Easton, Pennsylvania. Communities across the Lehigh Valley are adjusting to life during the coronavirus pandemic that is impacting the daily lives of Pennsylvania residents both socially and economically.
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- Daaiyah Boone waits near the door of Tilden Middle School, ready to hand out bagged meals to students during the coronavirus shutdown.
Kimberly Paynter / WHYY
Kalaya owner Nok Suntaranon (right) hands out donated pizza to community members in need.
In many parts of the state, streets have seemed like ghost towns. As of March 25, Pennsylvania has 1,127 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 11 fatal. New York and New Jersey have seen surges in confirmed cases in the past week, and they now lead the nation.
Gov. Tom Wolf has ordered a shutdown of non-life-sustaining businesses in hopes of slowing the spread of the virus. Ten counties across the state are under ‘stay-at-home’ orders through April 6. Schools statewide will be closed at least through that period.
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- A boarded up Wine and Spirits store in Easton, Pennsylvania.
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- The playground of Arsenal Elementary and Middle School sits empty in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood.
Min Xian / WPSU
A view of the nearly empty mall on Penn State’s University Park campus in March 2020. The university announced March 18, 2020, there would be no in-person classes for the rest of the semester.
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- Downtown Allentown, empty on Hamilton Street as communities across the Lehigh Valley adjust to life during the coronavirus pandemic.
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- Downtown Allentown, empty on Hamilton Street as communities across the Lehigh Valley adjust to life during the coronavirus pandemic.
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- The Emmaus Theatre on South 4th Street in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, is closed Mar. 21, 2020, as communities across the Lehigh Valley are adjusting to life during the coronavirus pandemic that is impacting the daily lives of Pennsylvania residents both socially and economically.
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- Swings sit empty in Pittsburgh’s Arsenal Park on Monday, March 23, 2020.
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- Stores on Chelten Ave. in the Germantown section of Philadelphia are closed during the stay-at-home order.
Dani Fresh / Keystone Crossroads
At the Sayford Market in Harrisburg, an employee tells a customer through the glass that they’re closed for the day.
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- A desolate Strawberry Square in Harrisburg, Pa.
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- At Philadelphia City Council meeting, attendees were told to use every other chair to reduce the chances of exposure to coronavirus.
Even with stay-at-home orders in place, Pennsylvanians are allowed to leave their homes for exercise, with guidance to remain 6 feet from non-in-home-family members when walking, running or biking.
As the arrival of spring coincided with the state’s shutdown order, many trails across Pennsylvania have been full of residents trying to find natural respite from long days working at home at computer screens.
At Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area in Dauphin County, the parking lot was jam-packed over the weekend compared to what’s typical.
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- Nicole Herbert is an art teacher for Cedar Cliff School District and Doug Beard works for Hershey Creamery. Doug says his office has been contemplating layoffs but he believes he won’t be affected because of the specificity of his particular job.
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- Shannon Deatrich’s job came up with a rotating system for employees — she’s working part time in her office and part time from home in Harrisburg. Doug Andersen, of Mechanicsburg, owns a commercial painting company. He had to lay off 15 people but says “everyone is ready to work again as soon as it’s okay.”
Matt Smith / Keystone Crossroads
Edward Zayas, Jr., of Allentown, walks with his stepdaughter Avery Green, 4, as she rides her bike near the PPL Center in Allentown. Zayas is a chef at a bistro and has been working a lot to accommodate the increased demand for takeout and delivery orders. “We just had to get out,” he said.
Wayne and Karen Achey, of Bethlehem, found a creative way to maintain social distance while visiting relatives. They talk to Wayne’s mother Marilyn as she stands at her third-floor balcony at the Moravian Village retirement community.
Matt Smith / Keystone Crossroads
Wayne Achey, left, of Bethlehem, and his wife Karen Achey, right, of Bethlehem, look up as they talk to Wayne’s mother Marilyn Achey.
Some people have found it more difficult to obey social distancing guidelines. Jessenia Almonte and Gabby Ball of Allentown are out of school, but neither has been hesitant to make contact while playing basketball.
Matt Smith / Keystone Crossroads
Jessenia Almonte, left, of Allentown, and Gabby Ball, right, of Allentown, play basketball Mar. 21, 2020, at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Both are staying home as schools are closed, but they enjoy playing basketball and still want to come out to play.
The road ahead for Pennsylvania and the nation is unclear. There have been nearly 60,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, with more than 800 deaths. A worst-case scenario predicts the virus could cause more than a million deaths if strict isolation policies aren’t kept.
In the meantime, the Pennsylvania economy has already taken a major hit. A record shattering 540,000 unemployment claims were filed in the state in the midst of the coronavirus shutdown in the past week alone.
Jessica Kourkounis / Keystone Crossroads
A foggy, gray Philadelphia during the coronavirus pandemic.
Photographers Jessica Kourkounis, Emma Lee, Kimberly Paynter, Matt Smith, Dani Fresh, Min Xian and Katie Blackley contributed to this piece.
WHYY is the leading public media station serving the Philadelphia region, including Delaware, South Jersey and Pennsylvania. This story originally appeared on WHYY.org.
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