People wait for a take-out order at a restaurant along Butler Street in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood as counties in southwestern Pennsylvania join northwestern and the north central regions with more relaxed COVID-19 prevention restrictions, Friday, May 15, 2020, in Pittsburgh.
Keith Srakocic / AP Photo
Keith Srakocic / AP Photo
People wait for a take-out order at a restaurant along Butler Street in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood as counties in southwestern Pennsylvania join northwestern and the north central regions with more relaxed COVID-19 prevention restrictions, Friday, May 15, 2020, in Pittsburgh.
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» Red, yellow, green: What to expect in each of Pa.’s tiers for reopening
Starting this week Pennsylvania will be getting a more thorough breakdown of the COVID-19 deaths in the state, but that may lead to some wonky math and some counties may see deaths disappear from previous counts.
The state has transitioned fully to using the Electronic Death Reporting System, or EDRS. According to Health Secretary Rachel Levine, the switch will allow the state to “get as near to real-time information regarding people whose deaths have been attributed to COVID-19 [as possible] in addition to those who have tested positive for COVID-19.” Previously, the state had been using a mix of data reported through EDRS and another system, the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System, used by hospitals and health systems. The attempts to reconcile the two sources of data led to a series of lags, discrepancies and overall confusion on COVID-19 death counts across the commonwealth.
The state will now publish a weekly report that offers aggregate information about the most common diseases that those who died of COVID-19 also suffered from such as hypertension or dementia. That’s in addition to breakdown of race, gender, and age – information the state was already offering in its daily updates.
Health Secretary Rachel Levine said the state changed how it reconciles data in order to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting requirements.
Some counties may notice changes in their death counts on the state’s website or discrepancies between what the state is reporting and what their local coroner is citing, according to Levine.
The state is attributing COVID-19 deaths to the county of residence, whereas coroners are typically required to report deaths in the county where a patient died.
A discrepancy could also occur in nursing home deaths. A person may live in a nursing home in one county but if their official residence is another county, the death will be attributed to the latter.
Still, Levine said it’s important for the state to track deaths at long-term care facilities.
For that reason, Pennsylvania will publish a breakdown of deaths by county of residence, the way federal authorities require, as well as deaths by nursing homes.
“We’re not double-reporting, but it will be listed in two different data sets,” she said. “This means that these two charts on our website, our ‘total death count’ and our ‘long-term care facility death count’ may not exactly match up.”
—Laura Benshoff and Avi Wolfman-Arent, WHYY
Pennsylvania’s death toll from the COVID-19 outbreak has passed 4,500 and about 63,000 people have been infected, the state Health Department said Monday.
Officials added 87 deaths to the tally, after 61 were announced Saturday and 15 on Sunday. More than 3,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic in Pennsylvania have been residents of nursing homes or personal care facilities.
The Department of Health continues to reconcile its COVID-19 related death data with information from county coroners, hospitals and other record-keepers across the state.
Today’s update includes 65 newly reported deaths in Lancaster County, 40 in Berks, 12 in Franklin, 11 in Dauphin, five in Schuylkill, two in Lebanon, two in Northumberland, two in York, one in Juniata and one in Mifflin. Death counts decreased by seven in Cumberland, four in Columbia, one in Adams and one in Snyder.
Kate Landis
People wait outside Esaan Thai Restaurant in York, Pa.. York County is one of 12 that will see some coronavirus restrictions lifted on Friday, May 22.
Gov. Tom Wolf has begun relaxing social distancing and business closure guidelines, with more than half of the state’s 67 counties currently in the “yellow” zone that permits some businesses to operate. Twelve more counties are scheduled to be reclassified as yellow on Friday.
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 without feeling sick. There is no data on how many people have fully 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 Pennsylvania pandemic developments:
Trails through Pennsylvania state forests that all-terrain vehicles can use will be opening a bit early this year to limit crowds during the first-day rush.
The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said the trails will open on Tuesday, three days earlier than normal.
The agency also announced that Tuesday will be opening day for motorcycle trails in Bald Eagle State Forest.
All-terrain vehicles can use state forest trails within 11 designated systems but are not allowed on state forest roads or in state parks and game lands.
More than 150 businesses in the Pocono Mountains tourism zone are making a public pledge to abide by cleaning and social distancing guidelines as they reopen after the monthslong shutdown.
The Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau said Monday that the vow includes surveying staff for health problems when they start a work shift, training and the use of personal protective gear.
Some of the restrictions will be loosened on Friday in Wayne and Carbon counties, which are scheduled to move to the “yellow” phase and permit more business openings. Pike and Monroe counties, however, remain in the more restrictive red phase.
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.
