By one measure, Pa. continues to lead nation in unemployment claims

No other state has larger % of work force seeking aid

• Emily Previti/PA Post
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  Emily is a reporter for WITF who’s been covering voting and elections since July 2019 as part of her former role with statehouse accountability news organization PA Post. She was the senior reporter for statewide public media collaboration Keystone Crossroads. Previously, she covered city hall for PennLive/The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.), was a watchdog and city hall reporter at The Press of Atlantic City and reported for the Northwest Herald. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
  
  See other articles by Emily Previti for WITF.

 Tim Lambert / WITF

Closed signs are on the front door of Isaac's Restaurant in Hummelstown on April 5.

Tim Lambert / WITF

Closed signs are on the front door of Isaac’s Restaurant in Hummelstown Wednesday. (Tim Lambert/WITF)

Twelve percent of Pennsylvania workers filed for unemployment in the two weeks ending March 28, according to stats released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

That’s the largest share of a statewide workforce to seek unemployment across all 50 states. Pennsylvanians filed more than 705,00 claims during March 15-28. That’s more than any other state but California, where more than a million workers (6 percent) submitted claims.

Indiana had the highest increase in sheer number of claims filed compared to the same period last year, according to this analysis from WalletHub.

Every state is experiencing a similar filing crush as businesses close and officials issue stay-at-home orders and social distancing mandates. A story I wrote earlier this week explored the factors — pandemic-related and others — that put Pa. on top.

We don’t know if the actual number of Americans trying to file unemployment was depressed by system crashes and backlogs, like the ones experienced in Pennsylvania.

But we do know that some other states adjusted their filing systems to try to improve the situation going forward. One strategy other states have opted for is  assigning days and/or times to file a claim based on an applicant’s last names or Social Security number.

Pa. Labor & Industry officials say the commonwealth won’t be trying that approach anytime soon, though.

“We tried the ‘staggered’ concept … in the past without success,” spokeswoman Penny Ickes wrote in an email Thursday. “We found it was not followed voluntarily and there was ultimately no way to enforce the process.”

She noted that some other states using the staggered approach also mandate paid leave.

Pa. officials are dealing with the huge volume of claims while its own workforce is adjusting to working remotely; the department has plans to improve the process going forward, according to Ickes.

L&I will bring back retired staff and expects them on the job within two weeks, and it plans to hire at least 100 or more new staffers (though the newbies won’t start until May).

“We will be considering/implementing additional options moving forward and will be as transparent and open as possible about improvements to our overall system and operations,” Ickes wrote. —Emily Previti

Best of the rest

Jessica Griffin / Philadelphia Inquirer

For patients with severe cases of the coronavirus, a ventilator can mean the difference between life and death, making them hot commodities throughout the country. (Jessica Griffin / Philadelphia Inquirer)

• “For patients with severe cases of the coronavirus, a ventilator can mean the difference between life and death, making them hot commodities throughout the country. With the federal stockpile running low, states are competing against one another to secure equipment,” writes WITF’s Brett Sholtis. Read his story here to find out why Pennsylvania, with enough ventilators to meet current demands, is seeking more from the federal stockpile.

• N95 masks for health care workers are another hot commodity, along with gloves and surgical gowns — and Pennsylvania doesn’t have enough of any of them. From The Inquirer: Pennsylvania asked FEMA for nearly 500,000 N95 masks. It’s still 380,000 short. The Morning Call also reported on this story, which was based off of information obtain by Congress: Face shields, but no testing swabs: New documents show what supplies Pennsylvania received from FEMA to combat coronavirus.

• A bit of hope from Pittsburgh, as researchers there say they have made significant progress on a coronavirus vaccine. From the Post-Gazette: “The vaccine work is based on research by Andrea Gambotto, an associate professor of surgery at Pitt who has spent his career developing vaccines, most importantly work on SARS in 2003 and MERS in 2014.” The article makes clear that a vaccine remains a long, long way from being available.

• Another cool medical research project from Pittsburgh: CMU researchers developing system to detect COVID-19 with just a voice recording.

• WESA’s Lucy Perkins looks at how stay-at-home orders could exacerbate domestic violence and, more concerningly, make it harder for victims to seek help.

• There’s growing frustration with how Gov. Wolf’s administration is handling the waiver process for essential businesses. WHYY reports that some business owners voluntarily complied with shutdown orders, only to see competitors doing the same work remain open and boast of waivers. The Inquirer, meanwhile, produced a more-readable version of the state’s list of which businesses qualify to remain open.

• If kids remain out of class the rest of the school year and aren’t able to complete coursework remotely, they still might get moved up to the next grade when school resumes in the fall, according to Gov. Wolf. A reminder: WITF and public broadcasters across the state are working with the Pa. Department of Education to provide online and over-the-air educational resources. Know a parent with school-age children? Send them this link. Another handy link: Here’s where school children can find meals during the coronavirus shutdown.

• Buzzkill, literally. From PennLive: “About that surge in cross-border alcohol shopping since the coronavirus-related closure of the state-owned liquor stores in Pennsylvania on March 16: It is still illegal to for Pennsylvania residents to buy wine or liquor out of state and bring it home for consumption.” But don’t worry too much. The Pennsylvania State Police isn’t going out of its way on enforcement.

• The Democratic Party yesterday bumped its presidential nominating convention from July to August. The change doesn’t give states any more leeway to postpone their primaries without risking a loss of delegates, though, as we explored recently in this article.

Coronavirus stories from around Pa:

• PublicSource: A Pittsburgh doctor’s 30-minute routine to protect her newborn from COVID-19

• LNP: ‘We’re out here trying to do a job’: Truckers work through obstacles brought on by COVID-19

• Reading Eagle: Coronavirus shutdown sends farm economy in Berks County into turmoil; consumers go direct to farmers to circumvent shortages

• PennLive: York County woman faces $200 ticket from state police under Gov. Wolf’s stay-at-home order

• PennLive’s John Baer: Lt. Gov. Fetterman: Staying home, practicing social distancing and preaching ‘resolve’

• GoErie.com: Erie County COVID-19 patient: ‘I’ve never been this sick’

• Philly Mag: A South Philly Photographer Is Documenting Philadelphians at Home During Coronavirus