Gov. Tom Wolf (right) at a virtual press event on Wednesday.
Pennsylvania will use a three-color, three-phase system as it moves towards lifting stay-at-home orders and business restrictions, Gov. Tom Wolf said on Wednesday.
In an unusual evening press briefing, Wolf said that phases will be delineated by the colors red, yellow and green.
“We will not just be flipping a switch and going from closed to open,” he said.
To decide to move regions to a new phase, the state will use several metrics, including that a region shows fewer than 50 positive COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over the course of 14 days. The state Department of Health will also use criteria such as testing rates, the ability to investigate cases, contact tracing capabilities and proximity to high-risk settings, as well as a data tool developed by Carnegie Mellon University.
The entire state is currently in the red phase, which includes strict social distancing, non-life sustaining business and school closures, and building safety protocols.The state issued the following graphic to demonstrate the phase:
In the interim yellow phase, some restrictions on work and social interactions will ease while others, such as closures of schools, gyms, and other indoor recreation centers, as well as limitations around large gatherings, will remain in place.
The green phase will remove the remaining stay-at-home orders, but will still require people to adhere to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and state health department guidelines. For an example, Wolf said that a face-mask requirement may remain even in the green phase if recommended by these entities.
Most likely, the northwest and north-central parts of the state will be the first to move to the yellow phase, on May 8, Wolf said.
He added that it’s possible that, depending upon the spread of the virus, a region could be moved back into a stricter phase.
“We will be keeping a constant watch on our COVID-19 case figures,” Wolf said. “And I will caution that we may announce a target date that will have to be pushed back due to new cases, or we might reopen some area or some businesses only to have them close again if the virus begins to resurge.”
