Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is offering more details on the standards he will use to gradually reopen Pennsylvania.
The Wolf administration released more information Saturday on its benchmarks and approach to easing restrictions. Pennsylvania remains under a statewide stay-at-home order to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The governor has said he aims to open counties in northcentral and northwestern Pennsylvania on May 8. Wolf has said he will employ a “data driven” approach to evaluating counties where restrictions can be eased.
The governor has outlined one key metric previously. The Wolf administration will consider opening counties with fewer than 50 new confirmed cases per 100,000 people over the previous 14 days. For example, an area with 800,000 people would need to have fewer than 400 new confirmed cases reported in the past 14 days to meet the target, the administration said.
But the Wolf administration has also offered more details on other steps. The number of cases is only one factor.
The Wolf administration listed other criteria to reopen regions. Here are those measures, according to the Wolf administration.
- Enough testing. There needs to be enough tests for individuals with symptoms and certain key groups, such as those at high risk, health care personnel and first responders.
- Contact tracing. The state will want to ensure there’s robust case investigation and contact tracing infrastructure in place to identify cluster outbreaks and to issue proper isolation and quarantine orders. In a news conference Saturday, Levine said contact tracing will be “very important” in easing restrictions.
- Helping high-risk areas. Regions will need to identify high-risk settings, such as prisons and nursing homes, and ensure there are adequate safeguards in place. Those safety steps include staff training, employee screening, strong policies on visitors and adequate supplies of protective equipment.
The state is working with Carnegie Mellon University to develop a modeling dashboard to evaluate regions. The Wolf administration said it will take “a regional and sector-based approach to reopenings, the easing of restrictions and public health response.”
Wolf and Levine have said they will look at individual counties and their cases and health care capabilities when it comes to easing restrictions. But state officials will also focus on the surrounding region.
Levine has said if an individual county has a low number of cases but is surrounded by counties with high case loads, that county probably wouldn’t be reopened.
- Can we find those infected with coronavirus, so everyone else can get back to work, school and life?
This map from the Pa. Department of Health defines how it divides up the state into regions as decisions are made to reopen Pennsylvania’s economy.
The governor has said his administration will work with counties and local officials to ease restrictions.
More than 40,000 people in Pennsylvania have contracted the virus and more than 1,500 have died, according to the state Department of Health.
The Wolf administration is using a three-phased plan in reopening regions: red, yellow and green.
Wolf said he’ll look to lift the order gradually across the state, beginning in some northern counties with only a few cases. But Wolf has also said he’s ready to lift some restrictions on business.
Construction activity can resume May 1 and the governor has also said online auto sales can return.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s red, yellow and green phases reopening Pennsylvania after coronavirus-related shutdowns in 2020. (Graphic via the governor’s office.)
Here is the governor’s plan to reopen Pennsylvania.
