Schools close indefinitely
‘Business and school closures will no longer have a set date’
School and non-life sustaining businesses throughout the Commonwealth will now be closed indefinitely.
“Business and school closures will no longer have a set date to resume normal operations,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a Monday press briefing. “(I am) going to leave the date indefinite.”
He said schools and businesses would remain closed “as long as we need to keep them closed” in an effort to save lives. “Stay home we must. This virus is really sneaky and someone can be carrying it for two weeks without showing any symptoms whatsoever.
“We’re trying to make sure that Pennsylvanians are safe.”
Wolf said he left his York home for the first time in two weeks to conduct Monday’s briefing in Harrisburg and said he was “really impressed” that Pennsylvanians are “really doing a phenomenal job” at complying with the mitigation and social distancing efforts implemented in the Commonwealth.
He announced that the virus is now in 59 of the state’s 67 counties and that the “number of new cases continues to grow each (day).”
State Epidemiologist Dr. Sharon Watkins announced an additional 693 cases in the last day, bringing the total to 4,087 state-wide.
Watkins also said that the death total is now 48.
Additionally, she indicated that Department of Corrections announced its positive test in the state prison system. Wolf said it was a staff member at SCI-Phoenix who tested positive.
Wolf announced that an additional four counties — Carbon, Cumberland, Dauphin and Schuylkill — are added to his stay-at-home order, which now covers a total of 26 counties.
He also pushed back the stay-at-home end date to April 30 in line with what President Trump said over the weekend.
Wolf said he is “continuing to assess further additions to the list of counties based on where and how new cases are occurring.
How close are we to a state-wide issuance of such an order?
“The way we’ve done it in Pennsylvania (is to) try to take a measured and balanced approach.”
He said county leadership in the counties where the stay-at-home order sought the order and that the order has been issued in places where there has been a “real need” and “increase in the number of people getting sick” or concern about additional illness.
He called his approach the “appropriate way.”
Here’s Monday’s county-by-county statistics: Philadelphia (1007 cases) and seven fatalities, Montgomery (540) and five fatalities, Delaware (303) and four fatalities, Allegheny (290) and two fatalities, Bucks (246) and four fatalities, Lehigh (231) and three fatalities, Northampton (184) and five fatalities, Monroe (182) and seven fatalities, Luzerne (150) and three fatalities, Chester (146), Lancaster (97) and two fatalities, Berks (82), Lackawanna (62) and two fatalities, Westmoreland (55), York (54), Butler (49) and two fatalities, Beaver (44), Pike (39) and one fatality, Dauphin (36), Schuylkill (30), Lebanon (27), Washington (26), Cumberland (24) and one fatality, Centre (24), Carbon, Erie (13), Franklin (12), Fayette (11), Lawrence, Montour, Wayne (10) and one fatality, Adams (8), Greene, Mercer (7), Blair, Columbia (6), Clearfield, Crawford, Lycoming, Union (4), Armstrong, Bradford, Juniata (3) and Cambria, Indiana, Potter, Snyder, Somerset (2).
There is one case in each of the following counties: Warren, Cameron, Clarion, Huntingdon, McKean, Mifflin, Northumberland, Perry, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Venango.