State waits for Wolf’s decision
By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is set to announce which regions will see a reduction in restrictions today, but he said Thursday a decision had yet to be made.
“We haven’t even made the list up yet,” Wolf said when asked what Pennsylvanians can expect from his announcement.
Wolf will announce which regions can move from the red phase, which is where the entire state remains right now under full stay-at-home orders, into the yellow phase, where certain restrictions are loosened.
Many things will reopen, but with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines in place. Some of the orders in the red phase will remain, such as keeping restaurants to take-out only for the time being.
Initially, Wolf said the regions mostly likely to reopen May 8 will be northwest and north-center Pennsylvania. Thursday he said there aren’t specific regions in mind.
Wolf said several counties in southwestern Pennsylvania would like to be evaluated separately from Allegheny County, where the numbers continue to be highest in the region. Wolf said he wasn’t sure why counties wanted to separate from each other in this area when it comes to being considered for a move to the yellow phase.
One of the metrics for meeting the reopening guidelines is that a region can’t have more than 50 new cases of coronavirus per 100,000 residents for 14 days before a move from red to yellow.
There are several other pieces of information aside from new coronavirus cases that will factor into such decisions, Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine have said.
On Thursday, 1,397 additional positive cases were announced, bringing the statewide total to 45,763. There were 97 more deaths reported Thursday, bringing the state total to 2,292 deaths.
In Pennsylvania, the fatality rate among those who contract the coronavirus is 5%, and it is one of 11 states with more than 25,000 cases.
There have been 1,031,659 cases in the country and 60,057 total deaths — a fatality rate of 5.8%.
Allegheny County now has 1,289 cases, an increase of 16 patients. There were eight new deaths reported for a total of 94.
In Fayette County, there was no change Thursday. There have been 80 cases and four deaths.
Washington County added two new cases for a total of 115 patients, and the county has reported no new deaths. There have been two fatalities.
Westmoreland County added five new cases for a total 391 and, according to the DOH, there were no more deaths and that total is 25. Westmoreland County Coroner Ken Bacha also reports no additional deaths, but the total he is tracking is 30 deaths due to the virus.
