Wolf: Southwest Pa. not ready to reopen
By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
Southwestern Pennsylvania will not reopen May 8, but Gov. Tom Wolf is eyeing the region for the next round of reopenings.
Wolf announced Friday that 24 counties will reopen next week and, as expected, they’re all in the northwestern and north-central regions of the state.
“We’re already looking at other counties to move from red to yellow categories,” Wolf said. “In particular, we have our eyes on the counties in southwest and a few in the south-central regions that have lower new-cases rates but where we still have a few concerns.”
Wolf said the specific issue in the southwest revolves mostly around population density and the concerns it brings.
“We have certain constraints over the ability to do the things we need to do to help these yellow areas stay yellow and maybe move into the green range as quickly as possible,” Wolf said. “Things like contact tracing that take people, that take infrastructure. The folks in the southwest can help in this process and we can go faster rather than slower.”
Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said aside from meeting the data requirement of having 50 or fewer new cases of coronavirus for every 100,000 residents, the Department of Health must be able to effectively conduct contact tracing and testing to monitor for potential outbreaks once a county is reopened.
Contact tracing means that after a person tests positive for coronavirus, community nurses contact the patients and do a full case investigation to discuss symptoms and risk factors. They determine whom the patient came in contact with while they were infectious. The nurses then contact those people to notify them they’ve been exposed to a person who has tested positive and they have to self-isolate for 14 days.
The nurses don’t reveal which person exposed them to the virus; they just notify them of the exposure.
The DOH checks in with those people every day to make sure they’re not developing symptoms and to ensure they’re staying quarantined.
Levine said the process will be bolstered as more counties reopen with more personnel and resources, new technology, including a new alert system to work alongside the disease surveillance system to help with daily check-ins of those exposed to the virus.
Allegheny County has met the new case guideline, but the population density of Pittsburgh and other areas remains one of the reasons contact tracing and increased testing could be more difficult.
“Population density is one of the main factors that can lead to the spread of COVID-19,” Wolf said. “We’ve certainly seen that throughout the country. We’re looking at all data and metrics, but also taking into consideration our ability to do contact tracing and testing, and population density affects that. It was not prudent to go from red to yellow at this time, but we are hoping to do that in the future.”
Wolf said Pennsylvanians living in counties that remain under the stay-at-home order after May 8 “can make choices that will lead to fewer cases and a faster move to lifted restrictions. We know social distancing works.”
The 24 counties that will move to yellow next Friday will have many businesses that reopen, but they will have to “abide by the message of yellow — proceed with caution,” Wolf said.
Retailers will have to enact social distancing measures, and some businesses will have to remain closed such as movie theaters, gyms and restaurants.
“We’re asking everyone to limit social gatherings,” Wolf said. “We still need to continue to implement social distancing to the best of our abilities.”
Businesses in yellow counties will need to offer no-contact options such as delivery and curbside pickup as much as possible. Wolf encourages other employers to continue offering workers the ability to telecommute as much as possible.
“The point is human-to-human contact means more outbreaks are possible,” Wolf said. “If we see outbreaks in a county that has been moved to yellow, we’ll have to move it back to red.”
Wolf essentially said the residents of yellow counties and how they continue to follow guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will determine if their counties stay open or if they revert to the red category by suffering an outbreak.
“Yellow counties should continue social distancing in order to move into green, and red counties should do things to move them into yellow categories,” Wolf said.
Levine said the plans in place will ensure that as people resume normal activities, they can be done safely and without fear.
Wolf said there isn’t a schedule set for how often new counties will be added to the yellow category.
Wolf and Levine are hopeful that if everyone continues to follow CDC guidelines there will be no reason to move yellow counties back to red.
There have now been 46,971 cases of coronavirus in the state, including 1,208 new cases Friday. There were 62 new deaths for a total of 2,354 fatalities due to the virus.
Allegheny County now has 1,319 cases, an increase of 30 patients. There were five new deaths reported for a new total of 99.
In Fayette County, there was one new case Friday for a total of 81. There have been four deaths.
Washington County added one new case for a total of 116 patients, and the county has reported no new deaths. There have been two fatalities.
Westmoreland County added two new cases for a total of 393 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 he is attributing 30 deaths to the virus.
