close

Coronavirus cases continue to climb in Pennsylvania

3 min read
article image -

The number of coronavirus cases rose to 268 in Pennsylvania as more people were being tested for the illness, the state Health Department said Friday.

The number of positive cases stood at 185 Thursday, when health Secretary Rachel Levine warned community spread of the virus was occurring.

“Our notable increase in cases over the last few days indicates we need everyone to take COVID-19 seriously,” Levine said Friday, while urging people to stay home to prevent the illness from spreading.

She also said her department is “seriously concerned” that people between the ages of 20 and 44 have not been heeding the message to stay home.

She said 40% of the people who have been hospitalized with the virus were between the ages of 20 and 54, citing new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Their denial of the seriousness of the virus could result in a significant impact to the state’s health care systems, she said.

Gov. Tom Wolf joined Levine in a 2 p.m. livestream Friday, one day after he ordered all businesses that are not essential to life to close a day earlier to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Wolf, later in the evening Friday, extended enforcement of his order for those businesses to close to 8 p.m. Monday because of a high volume of applications for waivers to the state office of Community and Economic Development. His closure order did not change Friday, the DCED said. However, Wolf did lift his order to close coal mines, state records showed.

Wolf said he could not allow the surging number of cases to continue without taking aggressive action.

“These are uncharted waters,” Wolf said.

Levine said the number of new cases of the virus statewide has doubled in the past two days and that Pennsylvania will continue to see a “surge before we see a decline.”

Washington County remained at three cases Friday, while Westmoreland County doubled to four positive results.

Allegheny County had five people hospitalized with coronavirus as the number of cases also continued to rise there Friday.

The county’s health department said it had 28 cases of the virus, up by 10 from Thursday.

“Similar to what has been seen in other states and other countries, the number of those testing positive will continue to rise as testing increases,” the department stated in a news release.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Human Services Friday urged Medicaid providers to make use of telemedicine technology to avoid face-to-face contact with patients to help slow the spread of the virus.

Telemedicine can be delivered through audio-video conferencing hosted by a secure mobile application.

During this state of emergency, telephone-only services may be utilized in situations where video technology is not available.

Allegheny was continuing to test specific high-risk individuals for the virus, including those with known contact, health care workers and first responders.

There were 2,574 patients who had tested negative statewide, and one death, Levine said.

Anyone experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, which include fever, cough and shortness of breath, were urged to stay at home and contact their primary care provider to determine if they needed to be tested for the virus, the department said.

Those in need of immediate medical care should call 911, or phone ahead before going to a doctor’s office or emergency department to allow the staff at those locations to prepare for the patient’s arrival.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today