Gov. Tom Wolf today during his virtual speech.
Gov. Tom Wolf made it official today—state-at-home and business restrictions will be relaxed first in the northwest and north-central parts of the commonwealth.
In a virtual announcement, Wolf specified that 24 counties will be the first to migrate from a “red” to a “yellow” category on May 8, primarily in largely rural areas of Pennsylvania lightly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Over the past two months, Pennsylvanians in every corner of our commonwealth have acted collectively to stop the spread of COVID-19,” Wolf said. “We have seen our new case numbers stabilize statewide and while we still have areas where outbreaks are occurring, we also have many areas that have few or no new cases.”
The 24 counties are Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango and Warren.
Those counties, he said, have relatively low per-capita rates of COVID-19 cases, along with the ability to conduct testing and contact tracing of their populations.
The Wolf administration is using a three-color system to guide re-openings. Most of the state remains under a “red” phase, which includes a stringent “stay-at-home” order and the mandatory closure of the physical locations of “non life-sustaining” businesses.
In the “yellow” category, stay-at-home restrictions are lifted, and businesses may operate their physical locations under certain safety procedures. Closures of schools, gyms, casinos and other indoor recreation centers, hair and nail salons, as well as limitations around large gatherings, remain in place.
“Operations that cannot allow for social distancing must remain closed,” Wolf said today.
The “green” phase indicates a general reopening, as long as state Department of Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidelines are followed.
Wolf said that counties could be moved back into the red category if COVID-19 case counts increase, and he urged PA residents everywhere to continue to minimize contact with one another.
Wolf declined to offer a timeline for lifting restrictions in other parts of the state, but did say that “we have our eyes on counties in the southwest and a few in the south-central region that have lower new-case rates.”
“We’re going to be reopening facilities in these counties as quickly as we can, but we want to maintain public safety,” he said.
To guide reopening decisions, the state is using a “risk-based decision support tool” developed by Carnegie Mellon University. This analysis tool factors in such criteria as reported number of COVID cases per population of an area; ICU and medical/surgical bed capacity; population density; population over age 60; and re-opening contact risk, such as the number of workers employed in a currently closed industry sector.
“Our goal since this pandemic was first identified in Pennsylvania has been to save lives while ensuring that the public health system does not become overwhelmed with people suffering from COVID-19,” Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said. “Our contact tracing and testing plans will ensure that as we begin to resume our daily activities, we can do so safely and without fear.”
