Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (purple), isolated from a patient sample. Image at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland
Courtesy NIAID
Courtesy NIAID
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (purple), isolated from a patient sample. Image at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland
Courtesy NIAID
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (purple), isolated from a patient sample. Image at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (Courtesy NIAID)
Going green: Forty-six counties are now in Gov. Wolf’s green phase of reopening. That number will grow to 54 as of this Friday with the addition of Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Luzerne, Monroe, Perry, Pike, and Schuylkill.
Outlier: Lancaster County will remain in the yellow phase. One reason why is a concerning rate of new infections. From LNP: “After rising in the second half of May and falling as May turned to June, the rate of new coronavirus cases has edged upward again in Lancaster County. In the past seven days (June 5-11), Lancaster County recorded 331 new cases of COVID-19, up from 245 in the prior seven days (May 29 to June 4). That had been down from 366 in the seven days before that (May 22-28).”
Shades of green?: A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial says Wolf isn’t doing enough to define what the green phase means in the long-term for counties, and what criteria he may rely on to determine if a county needs to return to yellow. From the editorial: “Large venues that host concerts or festivals have expressed concern that restrictions will not end until a vaccine is found. Officials in rural Elk County, which is now in the green phase, are among those requesting more detailed metrics and guidance so communities aren’t shocked if they have to shift phases again. Mr. Wolf has admitted he is unsure of what might come next for counties after entering this final phase of reopening. He needs to clarify in his own mind and then state policy.”
Patience and diligence: The editors at Erie’s Times-News say it’ll take actions by all of us to get through the epidemic lockdowns. They write: “We share the impatience and frustration. We also remain deeply concerned about the steady flow of new cases and the ruthlessly disparate toll the coronavirus is taking among Erie County’s minority residents. They represent 34 percent of the cases but only 7.3 percent of the population. Rail at Wolf and state health officials if you must. But the coronavirus does not go away because we are tired of it. It ends when we stop the spread by maintaining sanitation, observing safe social distances and wearing our masks in public spaces.”
Farm workers: The first months of the epidemic brought plenty of stories of coronavirus infections among slaughterhouse workers in Pa. and around the country. Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer looked at a different group of agriculture laborers — the largely Latino workforce that works at Chester County’s big mushroom farms. Jeanne Casner, the county health department director, “said it’s undeniable that the county is seeing an increase in cases among farmworkers, especially given the close quarters in which they work. She also pointed out that the numbers are rising, in part, because of testing on the farms, which began only recently.” The Inquirer is also reporting on how the epidemic is affecting Bell & Evans poultry workers in central Pennsylvania, most of whom are Latino.
Antibodies: Blood tests to determine if a person has been exposed to coronavirus are thought to be an important tool for determining when restrictions can be lifted. But the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported over the weekend that these tests are a really bad measure of where we stand in the epidemic, largely because of high false-positive rates.: “The high likelihood that with so few confirmed COVID-19 cases — less than 3% of the population in Allegheny County, for example — there is the chance that upwards of 50% of antibody testing would provide a false-positive test result. The false-positive rate in an area like Allegheny County could be high because with so few people having tested positive while they were infected, the likelihood of anyone truly testing positive is already very low. That means that the chances of someone falsely testing positive for COVID-19 antibodies because of either problems with the test or problems in identifying other coronaviruses instead — like the coronavirus that causes the common cold — become higher.”
Concerning numbers: States that were quick to ease restrictions are seeing a rise in positive cases and hospitalizations. From the New York Times: “Hospitals in Arizona have been urged to activate emergency plans to cope with a flood of coronavirus patients. On Saturday, Florida saw its largest single-day count of cases since the pandemic began. Oregon has failed to contain the spread of the virus in many places, leading the governor on Thursday to pause what had been a gradual reopening. And in Texas, cases are rising swiftly around the largest cities, including Houston, San Antonio and Dallas.” For a wonky look at the trend, read this Twitter thread from Andy Slavitt.
Rays of hope: A vaccine developed in China is showing evidence of inducing immune responses in patients and hasn’t caused any negative health effects. Read more from StatNews: Sinovac says early data show its Covid-19 vaccine generated immune responses. Closer to home, LNP profiles a Lancaster County woman who is participating in a University of Pennsylvania study of a vaccine being developed by Montgomery County-based Inovio.
Reminder from the Surgeon General: Wear a mask!
AP Photo
A vehicle in a caravan circles the Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh as part of the Pennsylvania Poor People’s Campaign: National Call for Moral Revival, Sunday, June 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Protests against policing of minority communities and racism continued over the weekend in small towns across Pennsylvania — a sign that the death of George Floyd is resonating deeply across the country. Protests occurred in places like Gettysburg, Bethlehem, Hummelstown, Robesonia, Westmoreland County, Elizabethtown, Millersville and Strasburg. And, of course, protests continued in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
The Morning Call looks at why it’s so hard to fire bad police officers: “In Pennsylvania, a police officer’s firing often ends in arbitration, meaning a neutral third party, or arbitrator, is charged with settling the dispute. Lawyers representing both municipalities and police unions say the difficulty in challenging arbitrators’ decisions leads to problem police officers remaining on duty.”
What does “defund the police” mean? WHYY tried to answer that question, speaking with people who live in over-policed communities. Shereda Cromwell, a North Philly woman, complained that the police only show up in her neighborhood when something bad happens. Still, Cromwell “doesn’t want police to completely disappear from her community, but she wants them to show up differently — and in fewer numbers. They should be a part of the community, not a force of outsiders. That could be possible, Cromwell said, if some of the $19 million intended for the Philadelphia Police Department until the mayor walked back the plan this week, went to community-based social services her neighborhood urgently needs instead.”
BillyPenn looks at how Regina Young managed to defeat the incumbent state representative in the 185th district in the June 2 primary election. “Democratic insiders expressed shock at the apparent victory, with some chalking it up to an anti-incumbent bent and others to Young’s tenacious shoestring campaign.”
Wolf v. legislature: Gov. Wolf on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to immediately take up his challenge to the GOP legislature’s efforts to end his coronavirus emergency order. As PA Post’s Ben Pontz reports, Wolf may regret seeking a hasty ruling, as there’s a good chance that the state’s highest court could rule against him.
A must read today from WITF’s Brett Sholtis: ‘She’s breaking down’: Inmates at Bucks County jail decry treatment of suicidal woman with severe mental illness
