While the state legislature has passed bills regarding the reopening of the state, on Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Tom Wolf said he didn’t intend to support them.
Wolf, speaking in a virtual press conference, said a reopening phase for Pennsylvania would come soon — but not now.
In response to questions regarding the actions of the legislature, Wolf said he would not support bills that allow commissioners of rural counties with “natural social distancing” to reopen their counties.
“We all want to get there as quickly as possible,” the governor said. “This is something we need to do as a Commonwealth. I have concerns about handing over the ability to open up. Pennsylvania is flattening the curve right now. We all need to continue to work together to make sure we get through this.”
In response to questions about the legislature making efforts to restrict his power to close non-essential businesses, Wolf said, “The course we’re on right now is the least bad. It’s the right course for Pennsylvania.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to make sure we are keeping Pennsylvanians safe. The better job we do here, the sooner we’re going to get through this and the safer we’re going to keep Pennsylvania,” the governor said.
Wolf said state officials are working on an outline of factors to consider for determining when it is safe to reopen. While he didn’t have an outline prepared, he mentioned, “It does include how we’re doing in terms of new cases and staying within the capacity of our health care system to treat victims of COVID-19. We need to look at the capacity of our system to provide tests.
“We will come up with guidelines as quickly as we can,” he said.
There are still shortages of test kits and testing materials, said Dr. Rachel Levine, secretary of health.
“We want to take every opportunity to expand testing,” she said.
Wolf also addressed the still-overwhelmed unemployment system.
“We had at one point 3 million claims,” he said. “That is stretching the capacity of the system in ways I have never seen before.”
More staff have been brought in and new technology implemented to help. “We’ve added staff to our mailroom to get checks out more quickly,” he said. “We’re not there yet. We will work tirelessly to turn these around as quickly as possible.”
The unemployment trust fund is estimated to be out of money in 11 weeks, but Wolf said the federal government is stepping in to help. “This is a pattern that has happened (nationwide) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In her daily update, Levine said there were 1,145 new cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, making for a total of 26,490 patients who have tested positive. Of that, 1,327 are in health care workers. There have been a total of 647 deaths, of which 324 have occurred in long-term care facilities like nursing homes.
The department noted there are four positive cases in McKean and in Potter counties, two in Elk County and one in Cameron County. The health department does not offer data per municipality.
The Department of Health website offers a breakdown of positive cases in nursing homes per county. As of Wednesday, there were no cases reported in nursing homes in McKean, Cameron, Elk or Potter counties.
