Tag Archives: Tom Wolf

Harrisburg Council approves major Allison Hill project; mayor says city will follow state mandates in reopening

May 12, 2020 | by Lawrance Binda

A screen grab of Harrisburg City Council’s virtual legislative session on Tuesday

One of the largest housing developments on Allison Hill in recent years is slated to move forward, as Harrisburg City Council approved a plan for a multi-building project just off of Market Street.

On Tuesday evening, council unanimously approved the land use plan by TLC Cornerstone Renewal to construct 26 townhouses, a 24-unit apartment building and a community center in a five-block area bounded by N. 15^th Street, Walnut Street and Crabapple Street.

“This is such a blighted area,” council President Wanda Williams said during last week’s council work session, when the project was discussed. “It certainly will enhance this area.”

At that work session, developer Tarik Casteel, president of TLC, told council members that he hopes to break ground in the early fall on the $14.7 million affordable housing project on the 2.1-acre site.

“This project will be big in this community,” he said. “It’s definitely needed, not just in this community but in several areas of the city of Harrisburg.”

A rendering of TLC’s planned project for Allison Hill

Nearly two years ago, TLC cut the ribbon on its first big project, the 20-unit Harrisburg Uptown Building (HUB) and the HUB Veteran Housing Campus.

Casteel told council that the new Allison Hill project would be just the first phase of a three-phase project for the area. He expects a 16-month construction period for the first phase.

“In Allison Hill, there is definitely a need,” he said. “This was one of the worst areas of the city. That’s why we wanted to come into this area, because it is the worst.”

In other action, council approved the distribution of federal housing funds to city-based nonprofits. Recipients of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding include:

A Miracle for Sure: $13,810
Center for Employment Opportunities: $13,810
Communities in Schools: $13,810
Heinz Menaker Senior Center: $14,000
Latino Hispanic American Community Center (LHACC): $13,810
Neighborhood Dispute Settlement: $13,810
Pennsylvania Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Network: $13,810
The Salvation Army Harrisburg Capital City Region: $25,000

The city also distributed federal Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funding to the following organizations:

Capital Area Coalition on Homelessness: $24,000
Christian Churches United of the Tri-County Area: $63,000
Shalom House: $43,100
YWCA Greater Harrisburg: $50,000

Also at the meeting, Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse made an opening statement, telling council members that the city would follow state mandates regarding business closures and stay-at-home orders, not the Dauphin County commissioners.

“I know I speak for all of us when I say we believe in the governor’s decision-making power, we believe in the Department of Health, and we believe in following those guidelines,” he said.

Several commissioners in central PA have threatened to unilaterally move their counties from the most restrictive “red” category to the less restrictive “yellow” category, which allows for greater freedom of movement and business operations. Locally, Dauphin County commission Chairman Jeff Haste issued a letter recently criticizing Gov. Tom Wolf and urging him to begin relaxing restrictions in the commonwealth and the county.

“I know that everyone is eager to get back to work and have the city reopen, but we have to let science guide us, we have to go slow, and we have to work collectively on this issue to make sure that we don’t have a relapse that ends up having us backslide even further and causing additional loss of life and harm,” Papenfuse said.

He added that, if the commissioners defy the state and move Dauphin County to the yellow phase, “we will not recognize that, the governor will not recognize that, and the city will remain in the red phase.”

PA reports lowest daily number of new COVID-19 cases in six weeks

May 11, 2020 | by Lawrance Binda

An image from the state Department of Health lab in Exton, Pa.

The commonwealth today reported the lowest number of new COVID-19 cases in about six weeks, with just 543 new infections recorded.

This was the fewest number of newly positive cases since March 28, when 533 new cases were reported. At the time, cases were surging and, within a week, would hit nearly 2,000 new cases.

For the past month, new cases have ranged closer to 1,000 each day.

Historically, Monday case numbers have been the lowest of the week due to less reporting to the state Department of Health, Secretary Rachel Levine has said.

With the additional cases, 57,154 Pennsylvanians have now been diagnosed with the coronavirus.

Locally, total diagnosed cases are as follows:

Adams County: 167 cases (yesterday, 156)
Cumberland County: 451 cases (yesterday, 434)
Dauphin County: 830 cases (yesterday, 823)
Franklin County: 513 cases (yesterday, 493)
Lancaster County: 2,256 cases (yesterday, 2,223)
Lebanon County: 815 cases (yesterday, 811)
Perry County: 35 cases (yesterday, 35)
York County: 784 cases (yesterday, 773)

Overall, about 20 percent of PA residents tested have shown to be positive for the virus.

PA Gov. Tom Wolf today cited these lower case numbers to say that the commonwealth is making progress against the disease and should not reopen “prematurely.”

The health department today also reported an additional 24 COVID-19-related fatalities, meaning that 3,731 Pennsylvanians now have died from the disease. The majority of new fatalities—23—were residents of nursing homes.

Around central PA, the COVID-19 fatality data now stands as follows:

Adams County: 5 deaths (yesterday, 5)
Cumberland County: 33 deaths (yesterday, 33)
Dauphin County: 36 deaths (yesterday, 36)
Franklin County: 12 deaths (yesterday, 12)
Lancaster County: 168 deaths (yesterday, 166)
Lebanon County: 16 deaths (yesterday, 16)
Perry County: 1 death (yesterday, 1)
York County: 13 deaths (yesterday, 13)

Statewide, Philadelphia County continues to have the most confirmed cases with 15,008 cases, followed by Montgomery County with 5,292 cases. The two counties also have reported the most deaths statewide from the disease: 857 and 525, respectively.

“As we prepare to move a number of counties from red to yellow, we need all Pennsylvanians to continue to follow the social distancing and mitigation efforts in place,” Levine said.

This coming week, the state plans to move 13 counties in the southwest portion of the state into the yellow phase, joining 24 counties in the northwest and north-central parts of PA that moved to yellow last week.

Nursing homes and personal care facilities have been particularly hard hit by the virus. Out of total deaths, 2,552, or 68.4 percent, have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities, according to the health department.

In nursing and personal care homes, there are 11,801 resident cases of COVID-19, and 1,655 cases among employees, for a total of 13,456 at 540 distinct facilities in 44 counties, according to the health department.

In addition, 3,790 of total cases in PA are in health care workers.

Statewide, 288,858 coronavirus tests have been performed, with 231,704 people testing negative, according to the state health department. Yesterday, the state reported that 284,383 people had been tested for the virus.

Of the patients who have tested positive to date, the age breakdown is as follows, according to the health department:

Nearly 1 percent are aged 0-4
Nearly 1 percent are aged 5-12
1 percent are aged 13-18
Nearly 6 percent are aged 19-24
Nearly 37 percent are aged 25-49
26 percent are aged 50-64
28 percent are aged 65 or older.

Most of the patients hospitalized are 65 or older, as are most of the reported deaths, according to the state. There have been no pediatric deaths to date.

Levine continued to emphasize that Pennsylvanians should do the following:

Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
Cover any coughs or sneezes with your elbow, not your hands.
Clean surfaces frequently.
Stay home to avoid spreading COVID-19, especially if you are unwell.

“We must continue to protect our most vulnerable Pennsylvanians, which includes our seniors, those with underlying health issues, our healthcare workers and our first responders,” Levine said. “I am proud of the work that Pennsylvanians have done so far, but we cannot stop now, we must continue to take the necessary steps to protect ourselves from COVID-19.”

For more information, visit the PA Department of Health’s COVID-19 website.

Gov. Wolf strikes back at calls to reopen counties, accuses commissioners of cowardice, surrender

May 11, 2020 | by Lawrance Binda

PA Gov. Tom Wolf (right) today at a virtual speech and press conference

Gov. Tom Wolf today struck back today at “cowardly local politicians” who want to open their economies “prematurely,” accusing them of “surrender” in the face of a “deadly” enemy.

Wolf made his remarks during a virtual press conference following a weekend during which the commissioners of several central PA counties, including Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry, Lebanon and York, said that they would move unilaterally into the less restrictive “yellow” category, perhaps as early as this week.

“These are politicians who were elected to serve their fellow citizens,” Wolf said. “Others are business owners who have chosen to serve their customers by putting them in harm’s way. These folks are choosing to desert in the face of the enemy, in the middle of a war that we Pennsylvanians are winning and that we must win.”

This week, 13 counties in southwest PA will join 24 other counties in the northern areas of the state to move into the “yellow” category, which allows for greater movement and business openings. All of the Harrisburg area remains in the most restrictive “red” category.

For one, Jeff Haste, chairman of the Dauphin County board of commissioners, on Friday released a letter accusing the state of heavy-handed tactics and urging Wolf to allow “businesses and communities to reopen.”

“For centuries, our people and businesses have shown they can adapt to changes to survive and prosper,” Haste stated. “They cannot, however, do a thing when a dictator and an unelected secretary place them in lockdown.”

Some local district attorneys also have said that they would not prosecute violations of state-mandated business closures or stay-at-home orders.

Both Wolf and Haste cited the “progress” made in PA in tamping down the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that the state has successfully “flattened the curve,” or the rate of infection. They also both said that the state, through its business closures and stay-at-home orders, in place since late March, prevented the health care system from becoming overwhelmed.

But they interpreted this progress in very different ways.

Haste cited it as a reason to reopen, in addition to minimizing further harm to businesses and the community.

“I trust and have faith in the great people and businesses of Pennsylvania to operate in a manner that protects those of our population in harm’s way and allows our residents to go back to work, enjoy their communities and have a quality of life,” Haste stated.

Wolf, though, said that loosening restrictions “prematurely” would amount to “surrender” and endanger lives. He also called Pennsylvanians “heroes” for agreeing to upend their lives to help prevent the spread of the virus.

“These heroic acts deserve to be met not by surrendering, but by staying the course,” he said. “And that’s what I intend to do.”

He also said that business owners who follow the commissioners and open before state guidance allows could face penalties, such as losing liquor licenses, health certifications and certificates of occupancy.

“Finally, the politicians who are encouraging the people they’re elected to lead to quit the fight are acting in a most cowardly way,” he said. “This is not the time to give up. This is not the time to surrender. This is the time to rededicate ourselves to the task of beating this virus.”

The Week that Was: News and features around Harrisburg

May 8, 2020 | by Lawrance Binda

The PA state Capitol. Photo by Dani Fresh

The coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate our lives, two months after the first case was diagnosed in Pennsylvania. Similarly, it again dominated the news, with basically all of our stories somehow tied to it. If you missed any of our coverage from the past week, we have it all listed and linked below.

COVID-19 pandemic appeared to ease a bit in Pennsylvania this past week, as most days had new cases below 1,000. However, the state twice raised the fatality rate significantly. We had an update each day, and here’s the latest.

Coronavirus pandemic has nearly everyone down, anxious and wondering what comes next. Our contributor, Karen Hendricks, shared her thoughts in a beautifully written blog post that surely reflects how others are feeling during this time.

Dauphin County reported 13 positive COVID-19 cases after a facility-wide testing of the county prison. More than 1,000 inmates and staff were tested, with a small percentage testing positive. Check out our online story for the details.

Harrisburg and Impact Harrisburg expect to more than double the grant money available through the Neighborhood Business Stabilization Program. The initial $1 million pot of money has already been exhausted, with much need left in the community. We covered the issue in an online story.

Harrisburg area likely will remain in the “red” category for at least another month. Gov. Tom Wolf revealed that the next counties to enter the “yellow” category of reopening would be in the southwest part of the state, as he extended his “stay-at-home” order for all red areas. We had the blow-by-blow in our online stories.

Healthy Steps Diaper Bank is teaming with Hamilton Health for a drive-through diaper distribution this weekend. Like many essentials, diapers are in great demand and low supply. Read our online story to find out the details and to make a donation.

Midtown Scholar Bookstore hosted a very timely book talk, featuring Catharine Arnold, author of “Pandemic 1918.” We sat in on the virtual event, seeing comparisons between the two pandemics, a century apart.

Nora Carreras is the newest member of the Harrisburg school board. Receiver Janet Samuels made the decision to fill the open seat following the recent death of board Director Gerald Welch. Find out more in our online story.

Nursing home residents constitute a huge number of positive COVID-19 cases, as well as the far majority of fatalities in PA. In an editorial, our editor questions why nursing home data is being lumped in with the general population data as the commonwealth makes decisions about re-openings.

Polling stations will change for several wards in Dauphin County for the June 2 primary, due to the pandemic. Our online story has the details on which ones will be affected.

Sara Bozich sometimes stares out the window and sometimes stares at her computer. In her weekly blog post, she has some great ideas for your own computer staring with virtual events and delicious takeout ideas.

TheBurg editor has some somber impressions of his empty city, as well as a few “wishes” for the Harrisburg area as we come out of the pandemic. This past week, we published his magazine column for our online readers.

TheBurg Podcast dropped on Friday, going into greater depth on stories from our May issue. Host Karen Hendricks interviews writers of several feature stories, including photographer Dani Fresh, whose photo story is certainly a highlight. You can subscribe to TheBurg Podcast or link to it here.

Wolf administration is planning a “Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps,” a workforce that would be deployed throughout PA to conduct testing and contact tracing. Read more in our online story.

Do you receive TheBurg Daily, our daily digest of news and events delivered right to your email inbox? If not, subscribe here!

Are you a member of our new membership program, Friends of TheBurg? Please join and become part of TheBurg family!

Thirteen more counties to move to “yellow” category next week, all in southwest PA

May 8, 2020 | by Lawrance Binda

PA Gov. Tom Wolf (right) during today’s briefing

The southwest will be the next part of Pennsylvania freed from the “red” zone, as Gov. Tom Wolf today announced his next move in gradually reopening the state.

Wolf said that 13 more counties would move to the less restrictive “yellow” category on May 15.

These counties are: Allegheny, Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland.

Notably, Beaver County, which borders Ohio, was excluded from moving from red to yellow. Beaver County has more positive cases per capita than surrounding counties, though most (336 of 479) are from three nursing homes.

In addition, today, 24 northwest and north-central counties became the first parts of the commonwealth to move from the red to the yellow category.

Together, these 37 counties represent the majority of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties in number, but not in population. Many of the most populated parts of the state, which also have had the most COVID-19 cases, remain in the red category.

The Wolf administration is using a three-color system to indicate restrictions on businesses and personal movement in light of the pandemic.

Much of the state, including the Harrisburg area, remains in the “red” category with “stay-at-home” orders and the required closing of physical locations of “non life-sustaining” businesses. The yellow category means that most businesses can reopen under certain conditions, and the green category repeals most of the restrictions.

In addition, Wolf said that other counties are under consideration for moving to the yellow phase, though he declined to specify which ones these were.

“Meanwhile, we’re also looking at nearby counties and, if current trends continue, they should be moving to yellow very soon, as well,” he said.

Both Wolf and health Secretary Rachel Levine on Friday emphasized that they are using a variety of metrics when deciding to move counties from one category to another, not just the number of cases per capita.

“The reopening plan prioritizes the health and welfare of Pennsylvanians by using a combination of factors to gauge how much movement a location can tolerate before the 2019 novel coronavirus becomes a threat,” Wolf said.

Wolf also stressed that counties could be returned to a more restrictive category if the pandemic worsens there. On Thursday night, he extended stay-at-home orders for all red zones until June 4.

“I’d like to emphasize that this plan is not a one-way route,” he said. “We are closely monitoring the 24 counties in the yellow phase and will re-impose restrictions if danger arises.”

Finally, answering a reporter’s question, Levine said that she was not sure if any recent positive cases resulted from “Reopen PA” rally in Harrisburg on April 20.

“We don’t know how many people have contracted the virus from that event,” she said. “That would depend, of course, on their telling us that they participated in the rally.”

Wolf extends “stay-at-home” order for much of PA for another month

May 7, 2020 | by Lawrance Binda

PA Gov. Tom Wolf (right) at a recent virtual press update

Gov. Tom Wolf has extended his “stay-at-home” order for much of Pennsylvania until June 4.

On Thursday night, Wolf released a statement saying that the order, which was due to expire at midnight, would be extended for nearly another month in all areas of the commonwealth under the “red” category.

This includes all of south-central Pennsylvania, as well as the southeast and northeast portions of the state.

On Friday, 24 counties in the northwest and north-central parts of Pennsylvania will move to the “yellow” category, which will relax business restrictions and stay-at-home orders in those areas. These restrictions have been in place statewide since March.

Wolf also said that, on Friday, he would announce that additional counties would move into the yellow category at a “to-be-determined” date. These counties are expected to be in the southwest portion of the state, as many of those counties have shown relatively light cases of COVID-19.

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.

No county is yet in the “green” phase, which indicates a general reopening, as long as state Department of Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidelines are followed.

Gov. Wolf proposes “civilian corps” to provide COVID-19 testing, tracing to assist reopening effort

May 6, 2020 | by Lawrance Binda

A screen shot of PA Gov. Tom Wolf (right) today

The commonwealth plans to launch a statewide civilian “corps,” which would provide COVID-19 testing and contact tracing.

Gov. Tom Wolf made the announcement today, saying that the new “Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps” would permit the state’s economy to reopen more quickly and fully, while having the added benefit of providing jobs during a time of high unemployment.

“We do not want to spend the next few months or the next year cloistered inside our homes,” he said, during a virtual speech. “We want to be able to resume working, going to school, going to church and visiting our loved ones. We want to reopen businesses of all types, and we want to be able to do this with as little risk as possible.”

The new corps would be deployed around the state specifically to test for the illness and provide contact tracing—tracing those who an infected person may have come in contact with so they can be identified and quarantined.

“To reopen our economy to its maximum potential, we will need to boost our ability to contain this highly transmissible virus,” he said. “[The corps] will reduce our unemployment rate while making a lasting health and economic contribution to our commonwealth. By maximizing our testing and contact tracing capabilities, we can contain COVID-19 without widely freezing the movement of Pennsylvanians.”

Even with the corps, the state likely will not be able to resume activities that include large crowds, such as concerts, he said.

According to Wolf’s office, the Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps would:

Partner with local public health agencies, community organizations and nonprofits to expand Pennsylvania’s existing testing and contact tracing initiatives.
Leverage additional resources to fund testing and contact tracing initiatives.
Explore “creative ways” to recruit experienced Pennsylvanians with health care and public health experience to support the initiative.
Coordinate existing resources deployed by the commonwealth, including community health nurses and county health departments that are currently conducting testing and contact tracing throughout the state.

The Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps will also provide an opportunity for Pennsylvania to recruit and train COVID-19-impacted dislocated and unemployed workers into public service for contact tracing roles, Wolf said.

To foster this new workforce, the corps would:

Engage partners in the workforce development system, existing allied health training programs, and AmeriCorps programs to build and strengthen a public health workforce across the commonwealth.
Leverage existing workforce development resources to recruit, train and connect the public health workforce with employment opportunities.
Engage public health and health care employers to connect trained workers with long-term career opportunities.

Wolf said he would unveil more details of the program “in the coming weeks.”

“We have slowed this virus through shared sacrifices,” he said. “We have bought precious time. We now need to use that time effectively by building a program that will allow commonwealth to function as much as possible while we wait for a vaccine.”

Three-week virus trend unchanged, as PA reports 1,334 new COVID-19 cases

May 2, 2020 | by Lawrance Binda

PA Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine (right) during her virtual update on Saturday

More than 1,300 additional Pennsylvanians have tested positive for the coronavirus, the state Department of Health announced today.

In its daily update, the department said that 1,334 more residents have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 as of midnight, bringing the total to 48,305 since the pandemic began in early March.

This data is in line with a three-week trend, which has largely seen newly reported cases range from 1,000 to 1,500 each day. Overall, almost 21 percent of PA residents tested have shown to be positive for the virus.

Locally, total diagnosed cases are as follows:

Adams County: 141 cases (yesterday, 140)
Cumberland County: 365 cases (yesterday, 349)
Dauphin County: 617 cases (yesterday, 601)
Franklin County: 325 cases (yesterday, 313)
Lancaster County: 1,904 cases (yesterday, 1,820)
Lebanon County: 710 cases (yesterday, 694)
Perry County: 33 cases (yesterday, 32)
York County: 664 cases (yesterday, 651)

“As we see the number of new COVID-19 cases continuously change across the state that does not mean we can stop practicing social distancing,” said department Secretary Rachel Levine.

The commonwealth also reported an additional 64 deaths from the disease for the 24 hours ending at midnight. Since the pandemic began, 2,418 Pennsylvanians have now died due to COVID-19, according to the department.

Around central PA, the COVID-19 fatality data now is as follows:

Adams County: 4 deaths (yesterday, 4)
Cumberland County: 17 deaths (yesterday, 17)
Dauphin County: 25 deaths (yesterday, 25)
Franklin County: 8 deaths (yesterday, 7)
Lancaster County: 112 deaths (yesterday, 106)
Lebanon County: 10 deaths (yesterday, 9)
Perry County: 1 death (yesterday, 1)
York County: 11 deaths (yesterday, 11)

Statewide, Philadelphia County continues to have the most confirmed cases with 12,948 cases, followed by Montgomery County with 4,487 cases. The two counties also have reported the most deaths statewide from the disease: 422 and 369, respectively.

Nursing homes and personal care facilities have been particularly hard hit by the virus. Out of total deaths, 1,614, or almost 67 percent, have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities, according to the health department.

In nursing and personal care homes, there are 8,827 resident cases of COVID-19, and 1,148 cases among employees, for a total of 9,975 at 478 distinct facilities in 44 counties, according to the health department.

In addition, 2,989 of total cases in PA are in health care workers.

Statewide, 235,376 coronavirus tests have been performed, with 187,071 people testing negative, according to the state health department. Yesterday, the state reported that 227,448 people had been tested for the virus.

Of the patients who have tested positive to date, the age breakdown is as follows, according to the health department:

Nearly 1 percent are aged 0-4
Nearly 1 percent are aged 5-12
1 percent are aged 13-18
Nearly 6 percent are aged 19-24
Nearly 38 percent are aged 25-49
Nearly 27 percent are aged 50-64
Nearly 27 percent are aged 65 or older.

Most of the patients hospitalized are 65 or older, as are most of the reported deaths, according to the state. There have been no pediatric deaths to date.

Levine continued to emphasize that Pennsylvanians should do the following:

Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
Cover any coughs or sneezes with your elbow, not your hands.
Clean surfaces frequently.
Stay home to avoid spreading COVID-19, especially if you are unwell.

“We must continue to stay home to protect ourselves, our families and our community,” Levine said. “If you must go out, please make as few trips as possible and wear a mask to protect not only yourself, but others. We need all Pennsylvanians to continue to heed these efforts to protect our vulnerable Pennsylvanians, our health care workers and frontline responders.”

For more information, visit the PA Department of Health’s COVID-19 website.

The Week that Was: News and features around Harrisburg

May 1, 2020 | by Lawrance Binda

Qui Qui Musarra, chef and an owner at Rubicon, Mangia Qui, & Suba, from a Dani Fresh photo feature in the May issue of TheBurg, which was released this week.

Around TheBurg, week six of the shutdown didn’t seem that different from weeks five, four, etc., etc. Amid the holding pattern, there was some bad news and some very good news. If you missed any of our coverage, we have it all listed and linked below.

COVID-19 pandemic continued to plague the commonwealth, and, each day, we reported on the health department’s grim tally. Click here for the latest update on cases and fatalities.

Gov. Tom Wolf offered further detail on beginning to dial back restrictions on movement and businesses. When will your area migrate from the red to the yellow category? Two online stories, one on Monday and one on Friday, offered information on counties that will make the move next week.

Harrisburg residents and officials should be commended for creatively stepping up to help those in need during the pandemic. So says our editor, who penned a blog post praising the local response to the crisis.

Harrisburg City Council funded its portion of the new Neighborhood Business Stabilization Program, designed to inject funding into hurting city businesses. At its virtual legislative session, council also approved a couple of important development projects. Our online story has the details.

Invasive pests are a huge problem in Pennsylvania, especially as we transition to warmer weather. Our magazine feature describes the scope of the issue and how people can help.

One Midtown is a new Friends of Midtown program designed to encourage people to patronize local businesses during the pandemic. Read our online story–then show off your receipts!

Sara Bozich continues to stare out her window, hoping that one day she’ll be able to enjoy adult company again. Until then, she has a weekly list of virtual things to do this weekend and some local businesses to patronize.

TheBurg came out with our May issue, a bit slimmed down but still full of community news and features. We continue delivering the hard copy to places that are open for business, but encourage people to read it online, as well.

TheBurg team of reporters, writers, designers and artists picked up 16 Keystone Media Awards, including the coveted “sweepstakes” award for best overall performance in our category. What and who won? To find out, check out our proud editor’s blog post.

Do you receive TheBurg Daily, our online digest of news and events delivered right to your email inbox? If not, subscribe here!

Wolf announces loosening of shutdown restrictions for 24 PA counties

May 1, 2020 | by Lawrance Binda

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.

“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.”

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