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Pennsylvania coronavirus cases rise to 24,199; 524 deaths
Philadelphia officials discussed Monday in a press conference that the peak may be coming closer. FOX 29's Joyce Evans reports.
PHILADELPHIA - Pennsylvania is now reporting at least 24,199 cases of the novel coronavirus, including 524 deaths.
Gov. Tom Wolf predicted Friday that Pennsylvania will see a surge in new coronavirus cases next week and implored residents to continue to self-isolate to get the worst of the pandemic behind them and allow the state’s economy to gradually open back up.
“If the surge occurs next week, as we suspect it will, and it’s within the range of the capacity of our health care system, that’s going to allow us to shut this shutdown down fast, faster than if this drags on,” Wolf told reporters on a conference call.
FULL COVERAGE: CORONAVIRUS
Modeling from the University of Washington suggests that Pennsylvania could hit a peak in hospitalizations and deaths late next week before the numbers gradually drift down through the middle of May. Wolf’s health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, said there won’t be one peak, and that different regions of the state will peak at different times.
Philadelphia and its suburbs as well as several counties in northeastern Pennsylvania have been hit particularly hard by the virus.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Philadelphia has risen to 6,813, with 190 reported fatalities.
Mark Roberts, director of the Public Health Dynamics Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, which is doing its own virus modeling, warned Friday that a peak doesn’t mean that Pennsylvania is out of the woods. He said the numbers could very easily spike again if people leave their homes and businesses open up too quickly.
“What I worry about is this notion that, ‘Oh, we’ve hit the peak, we’re finished, we’re done,’” Roberts told The Associated Press.
The state’s mitigation measures, including the indefinite shuttering of schools and nonessential businesses and Wolf’s order for people to remain at home, have helped slow the virus’s spread and make the pandemic more manageable for the health care system, according to Levine.
This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round magenta objects) emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. (NIAID-RML)
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CASES
Below is a breakdown of the cases by county:
– Adams County: 56, including 1 death
– Allegheny County: 876, including 21 deaths
– Armstrong County: 28, including 1 death
– Beaver County: 153, including 13 deaths
– Bedford County: 5, including 1 death
– Berks County: 1,150, including 21 deaths
– Blair County: 11
– Bradford County: 19
– Bucks County: 1,177, including 36 deaths
– Butler County: 143, including 4 deaths
– Cambria County: 14, including 1 death
– Cameron County: 1
– Carbon County: 102, including 3 deaths
– Centre County: 70
– Chester County: 593, including 17 deaths
– Clarion County: 16
– Clearfield County: 9
– Clinton County: 8
– Columbia County: 113, including 3 deaths
– Crawford County: 16
– Cumberland County: 122, including 3 deaths
– Dauphin County: 240, including 4 deaths
– Delaware County: 1,712, including 40 deaths
– Elk County: 2
– Erie County: 39
– Fayette County: 57, including 3 deaths
– Forest County: 5
– Franklin County: 66
– Fulton County: 1
– Greene County: 23
– Huntingdon County: 11
– Indiana County: 43
– Jefferson County: 2
– Juniata County: 39
– Lackawanna County: 459, including 21 deaths
– Lancaster County: 828, including 24 deaths
– Lawrence County: 51, including 4 deaths
– Lebanon County: 284, including 2 deaths
– Lehigh County: 1,747, including 19 deaths
– Luzerne County: 1,446, including 21 deaths
– Lycoming County: 28
– Mckean County: 3
– Mercer County: 43
– Mifflin County: 17
– Monroe County: 816, including 24 deaths
– Montgomery County: 2,285, including 65 deaths
– Montour County: 39
– Northampton County: 1,130, including 23 deaths
– Northumberland County: 40
– Perry County: 17, including 1 death
– Philadelphia County: 6,813, including 190 deaths**
– Pike County: 221, including 6 deaths
– Potter County: 4
– Schuylkill County: 192, including 2 deaths
– Snyder County: 23, including 1 death
– Somerset County: 13
– Sullivan County: 1
– Susquehanna County: 31, including 1 death
– Tioga County: 14, including 1 death
– Union County: 21
– Venango County: 6
– Warren County: 1
– Washington County: 69
– Wayne County: 67, including 1 death
– Westmoreland County: 228, including 6 deaths
– Wyoming County: 12
– York County: 331, including 3 deaths
**NOTE: Philadelphia cases listed may differ from reporting on health.pa.gov website.
WHAT WE KNOW
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
The vast majority of people recover.
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The Pennsylvania Department of Education has extended state school closures indefinitely.
The school shutdown order affects more than 1.7 million school children, in public and private K-12 schools.
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Philadelphia officials hold press conference on COVID-19 pandemic
Officials provide an update on the latest coronavirus developments in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia officials have issued a stay-at-home order and banned public gatherings in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Anyone with questions about COVID-19 can call the city's free 24/7 helpline at 1-800-722-7112.
Residents can also text the keyword COVIDPHL to 888-777 to receive updates through ReadyPhiladelphia, the city's mass communication system.
Philadelphia officials are providing meal service for students while schools remain closed.
For more information, including available pick-up sites, see here.
Gov. Tom Wolf has placed all of Pennsylvania under an order to stay at home, dramatically expanding the geographic footprint of the quarantine as state officials combat the coronavirus pandemic.
In one stroke, Wolf added 34 counties to his stay-home edict, meaning that residents of all 67 of Pennsylvania's counties must now stay home as much as possible to help slow the spread of COVID-19. The order will last through at least April 30.
With coronavirus infections continuing to rise dramatically in the state, Wolf called a statewide quarantine "the most prudent option."
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Businesses that remain open to the public include grocery stores, pharmacies, hotels and motels, beer distributors, laundromats and gas stations. Restaurants are only open for take-out orders. The open list also includes farms, mines, food production and some manufacturing.
Car dealers, clothing stores and other retailers, salons and entertainment venues are among those on the shuttered list.
Pennsylvania residents should wear face coverings in public to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Wolf urged Pennsylvanians to make their own cloth masks and put them on when they go to the grocery store, pharmacy and other places where people congregate. He spoke a few hours before the federal government issued its own recommendation for Americans to wear face coverings.
“Wearing a mask will help us cut down the possibility that we might be infecting an innocent bystander, like that grocery store cashier, the pharmacist, or someone stocking shelves,” he said. “These folks are keeping us alive by getting us the supplies we need. We owe it to them to do everything we can to keep them safe. Right now, that means wearing a mask.”
He added that residents should refrain from wearing the short-supply N95 respirator masks and other medical-grade masks worn by health care workers.
The Department of Health posted guidance on masks on its website.
CASH FOR HOSPITALS
Pennsylvania’s beleaguered hospitals and health networks will receive a cash infusion from the state and federal governments to help fortify them against the COVID-19 crisis, officials said Friday.
Nearly 13,000 health care providers statewide will share $1.25 billion in initial funding from the CARES Act, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey said. The law, enacted last month, authorizes $100 billion in grants to U.S. hospitals and other health providers buckling under the strain of pandemic response.
Additionally, Wolf announced a $450 million low-interest loan program that will provide hospitals with working capital to pay for clinicians, medical supplies and personal protective equipment.
“We cannot allow any of our hospitals to become bankrupt,” Wolf said Friday.
IMMIGRATION DETAINEES
After granting the federal government a three-day delay, a federal judge has gone ahead with his order to release 22 immigrant detainees considered to be at “imminent risk of death or serious injury” from COVID-19.
Friday’s ruling affects 20 detainees in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at jails in York and Pike counties. Two had already been let go.
Judge John E. Jones ordered the remaining detainees to be released from civil detention pending resolution of their cases, further action from the court or until Wolf lifts his COVID-19 state of emergency order.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.