People wait outside Esaan Thai Restaurant in York to get takeout on May 1, 2020.
Kate Landis / PA Post
Updated: 2020-05-04 18:52:52
Your daily coronavirus update: Pennsylvania tops 50K infections as rate of new cases declines
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The Associated Press -
Staff
Kate Landis / PA Post
People wait outside Esaan Thai Restaurant in York to get takeout on May 1, 2020.
With our coronavirus coverage, our goal is to equip you with the information you need. Rather than chase every update, we’ll try to keep things in context and focus on helping you make decisions. See all of our stories here.
What you should know
» Coronavirus facts & FAQ
» Day-by-day look at coronavirus disease cases in Pa.
» Red, yellow, green: What to expect in each of Pa.’s tiers for reopening
Pennsylvania passed 50,000 reported coronavirus infections on Monday, but the rate of spread has slowed and health officials say the state should be in a better position by fall to respond to and contain fresh outbreaks.
More than a month after Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all residents to stay at home and schools and nonessential businesses to close, parts of the state are getting ready to reopen this week.
“We were able to bend and straighten the curve so that we did not have the size of the peak, the surge, that we we were talking about, and it didn’t overwhelm health care systems. I think that is a success,” Wolf’s health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, said during a video news conference Monday.
While warning of a “significant potential increase of cases” in the fall, Levine predicted that greatly expanded testing and a new contact tracing program — in which infected people are swiftly isolated and people they came into contact with are quarantined — should help Pennsylvania keep a lid on the virus.
“I think we’ll be in a much better position in the fall to be able to try to prevent any significant outbreaks and as much community spread of COVID-19,” Levine said.
About 825 additional people tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the Health Department. There were 14 new deaths, raising the statewide total to 2,458.
The numbers of new infections and deaths have been trending down, prompting Gov. Tom Wolf to allow construction work statewide to resume and golf courses, marinas, guided fishing trips and privately owned campgrounds to reopen. On Friday, he plans to lift his stay-at-home order and allow some retail shops to reopen in the least impacted parts of the state.
A total of 8,973 people in central Pennsylvania have tested positive or are presumed to have had the virus since the first cases were reported in the region on March 13. Of those who tested positive, 332 died from COVID-19.
Today’s update includes one newly reported death in Lancaster County.
- Adams: 148 cases, including 4 deaths
- Berks: 2948 cases, including 118 deaths
- Columbia: 296 cases, including 13 deaths
- Cumberland: 375 cases, including 18 deaths
- Dauphin: 652 cases, including 28 deaths
- Franklin: 377 cases, including 8 deaths
- Juniata: 86 cases
- Lancaster: 1991 cases, including 113 deaths
- Lebanon: 756 cases, including 10 deaths
- Mifflin: 39 cases
- Northumberland: 100 cases
- Perry: 34 cases, including 1 death
- Schuylkill: 398 cases, including 7 deaths
- Snyder: 33 cases, including 1 death
- Union: 38 cases
- York: 702 cases, including 11 deaths
The number of infections is thought to be far higher than the state’s confirmed case count because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick. There is no data on how many people have recovered.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in a couple of weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.
In other coronavirus-related developments:
Nursing homes
A decision is expected this week on whether the Health Department will release data on COVID-19 at individual nursing homes.
Health officials have been under pressure to name long-term care facilities with virus cases, with the state’s chief fiscal watchdog, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, urging greater transparency.
Health Department officials say they have been weighing the public’s right to know against patient privacy and the dictates of state law.
“We’ll be making a decision about that this week,” Levine said Monday.
Statewide, 1,646 residents of nursing homes and personal care homes have died — about two-thirds of the state’s COVID-19 death toll.
Bill Johnston-Walsh, the AARP’s Pennsylvania state director, said his office has received calls from members who are having difficult getting information about a loved one in a nursing home, and in some cases aren’t even able to speak with them to see if they are OK.
The lack of transparency is puzzling, he said, given the fact that the nursing home trade associations say they support transparency.
Unemployment benefits
People who applied to a new federal benefits program for self-employed and gig-economy workers and others barred from receiving traditional unemployment should begin to see the money next week, state officials said Monday.
About 150,000 workers have applied to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which is being administered by the state’s unemployment compensation office. The state began accepting applications April 18, but hasn’t been able to pay benefits as it built out the system.
Applicants should be able to start filing weekly claims by the end of this week, and payments should begin a few days later, Labor & Industry Secretary Jerry Oleksiak said Monday.
Personal protective equipment
The state has launched a decontamination system that can sanitize the N95 respirator masks that are in short supply for health care personnel, said Randy Padfield, the director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
PEMA has signed agreements with 150 health care institutions around the state to process the used masks, Padfield told a state Senate committee hearing.
He did not offer additional details about the system, including who built it and who owns it.
County’s plea
Officials in Delaware County, outside Philadelphia, want the Wolf administration to separate virus infections in nursing homes from virus infections in the rest of the community for the purpose of deciding when to lift pandemic restrictions.
Delaware County is still reporting too many new virus infections to be considered for reopening, driven in part by infections plaguing dozens of nursing homes. But county officials said they view the challenge at nursing homes as separate from how the virus is impacting the wider community, adding that Wolf needs to get the “economic engine” of southeastern Pennsylvania “back up and running as quickly as safely possible.”
Levine responded Monday that it’s important to include nursing home infections in the overall tally because what happens inside the homes impacts the community in which they are located, and vice versa.
Prison hot spot
The Pennsylvania Corrections Department is dealing with a second COVID-19 outbreak, as 18 employees and 27 inmates have been infected at the State Correctional Institution-Huntingdon.
Overall, according to the prison system, 101 employees and 58 inmates have been sickened, including 48 employees and 28 inmates at SCI-Phoenix, in the Philadelphia suburbs.
The gym at SCI-Huntingdon has been converted into an infirmary where inmates who test positive for the virus are isolated, Corrections spokeswoman Maria Finn said Monday.
There is also enhanced screening of employees and vendors entering SCI-Huntingdon. Voluntary testing is available at the prison for any employee who fails the screening.
SCI-Huntingdon is located in the central part of Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Altoona.
Matt Rourke / AP Photo
Dr. Ala Stanford administers a COVID-19 swab test on Wade Jeffries in the parking lot of Pinn Memorial Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Wednesday, April 22, 2020. Stanford and other doctors formed the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium to offer testing and help address heath disparities in the African American community.
Pa. congressman calls for ‘mandatory testing’
Appearing on WHYY’s Radio Times, U.S. Congressman Dwight Evans (D-PA) said Monday that the nation’s focus should be on “mandatory testing” for the new coronavirus, “particularly in the African-American community.”
Disproportionately large numbers of African-Americans in Philadelphia have died from COVID-19, according to city data.
Evans also called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to halt the federal judicial nomination process and redirect that attention toward testing.
“It’s a question of priorities,” said Evans. “Where do you invest the dollars that you have?”
Evans did not say how much money such a switch would generate for testing.
McConnell has indicated that he will prioritize judicial appointments when the Senate reconvenes.
Federal schools aid
Pennsylvania is applying for $524 million in emergency, one-time federal aid to help schools respond to the pandemic.
The Department of Education said Monday it expects the federal government to approve its application within one week. Schools can use the money to pay for meals for students, technology, cleaning supplies, summer and after-school programs and for other expenses related to the virus.
Under the federal emergency rescue bill signed by President Donald Trump in March, at least 90% of the money must go to public schools and charter schools. The state Education Department said it plans to use the rest the money to support things like remote learning.
Sometimes, your mornings are just too busy to catch the news beyond a headline or two. Don’t worry. The Morning Agenda has got your back. Each weekday morning, host Tim Lambert will keep you informed, amused, enlightened and up-to-date on what’s happening in central Pennsylvania and the rest of this great commonwealth.
