Total number of coronavirus cases in Pa. increased by almost 25 percent overnight

Three more counties told to enforce stay-at-home orders

• Joseph Darius Jaafari
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  Joseph Darius Jaafari was a staff writer for the PA Post. His work covering crime, the military and LGBTQ issues has been featured in The Marshall Project, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Atlantic and The New York Times. He is a graduate of the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has produced for VICE and The New York Post. He is a native Arizonan and infamous for his love of tacos.

Twelve more Pennsylvanians are dead from the coronavirus, with 533 positive cases added to the state’s total number of cases as of the end of the day Friday, according to the Pennsylvania Health Department.

The state’s 2,751 total number of cases represents a nearly 25 percent increase since the end of Thursday, To date, 34 Pennsylvanians have died of complications from COVID-19.

“Our notable increase in cases over the past week indicate we need everyone to take COVID-19 seriously,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said in a press release. “Pennsylvanians have a very important job right now: stay calm, stay home and stay safe. We have seen case counts continue to increase and the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to stay home.”

Gov. Tom Wolf also expanded stay-at-home orders to three additional counties — Beaver, Centre and Washington. The addition brings the total number of counties under the order to 22 (9 were added on Friday).

Police in the affected counties are enforcing the orders, but citations, Wolf said, should be rare. He said law enforcement agencies are urged to issue warnings to non-essential businesses that remain open or to individuals congregating in large gatherings.

As of Thursday, the Pennsylvania State Police had issued 78 warnings to businesses.

During Saturday’s media briefing, Wolf was asked if he agrees with President Trump’s goal of reopening the nation by Easter (April 12). Wolf said he shares the president’s hope that the coronavirus outbreak ends as soon as possible and that he believed the president and all leaders across the country would heed the advice of public health officials on when to end stay-at-home orders.

To boost the number of health care workers statewide, the governor said Saturday that the state continues to reactivate licenses for medical professionals who retired or otherwise let their credentials expire. The Health Department is also loosening rules to allow 14,000 nurse practitioners to assist in COVID-19 cases outside of their specialties.

Despite coronavirus deaths primarily being among patients over 65 years old, the Health Department said 25-49-year-olds are currently the ones requiring the most hospital care. Fifty percent of patients testing positive are within that age range, according to data released by the health department.

The effectiveness of the stay-at-home order is yet to be determined. Models based on available data predict that if the entire state’s population complies, only 3% of the population could be infected, with 4,000 total deaths. But Levine stressed that slowing the spread is key and that models can change for the worse if people don’t practice social distancing. More than once during Saturday’s briefing, Wolf and Levine noted that the average person infected with coronavirus spreads it to at least two other people.

Secretary Levine said that there’s currently no shortage of intensive care beds or respirators in Pennsylvania. Currently, 40% of the state’s 3,400 ICU beds are not being used, and 75% of respirators – there are 4,000 in the state – are available for patients.

The secretary said the current availability of ICU beds and respirators is due, in part, to early action taken to keep the number of cases spiking in the state and overwhelming hospitals.

“There’s evidence that Pennsylvania has done quite well in social distancing,” Levine said. “We are in close contact with county commissioners and officials in each county and listening to them about their needs they see in their home counties.”