Worried by an “exponential rise” in new COVID-19 cases that are now nearly doubling every two days, Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday ordered residents in seven counties hardest hit by the pandemic, including Allegheny County, to stay home for the next two weeks unless they have a dire need to leave their home.
“We’re living in a time unlike any other,” Mr. Wolf said in a virtual press conference with reporters. “All of us need to take this situation seriously.”
Calling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on daily life the worst since the Civil War, Mr. Wolf called on residents to follow the order: “If we work together, we can prevent more damage to our economy, more damage to our people and our way of life.”
There is no “curfew,” but the order went into effect at 8 p.m. Monday. It gives law enforcement the power to force people to stay home, though the governor’s office sent out a press release that noted that at the start, officers “will be focused on ensuring that residents are aware of the order and informing the public of social distancing practices rather than enforcement.”
The state also provided guidelines for activity it considers acceptable over the next two weeks, including going to buy food and medicine, or caring for a family member or pet, or taking a walk for exercise.
The move came the same day that law enforcement began of Mr. Wolf’s order from last week that all non-essential businesses close. As of Monday afternoon, there have been no reports of officers having to force a business to close down, Mr. Wolf said.
Mr. Wolf’s new stay-at-home order continues the list of businesses that his administration laid out last week as either “non-essential” or “essential,” which is also referred to now as “life-sustaining” in a list the state created of businesses that fit each category.
Allegheny County clarified in a press release that the order “emphasizes that individuals in the county, to the extent possible, should stay at home and distance themselves from others. There is no change to the life-sustaining businesses and waivers that have previously been in place, or to the requirements for restaurants to limit their operations to take-out and delivery.”
Mr. Wolf said the administration is still processing some of the “thousands” of waiver requests it has received to allow various businesses to stay open.
He said as of Monday, about 2,000 businesses had their waivers approved and would be allowed to stay open, an untold number were turned down, and a third group of requests didn’t even need a waiver to stay open. Mr. Wolf said there was another “spike” of waiver requests on Monday as well that the state is now working through.
Mr. Wolf said he chose not to impose the restrictions statewide because he “tried to be measured” and not to “overreact.”
The stay-at-home order was imposed on seven counties: Allegheny, Monroe in the Pocono Mountains, and Philadelphia and its four surrounding counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery.
About 5.5 million people live in those seven counties. And, more importantly, they account for about 75% of the 644 COVID-19 cases identified as of Monday across the state.
Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said during the virtual press conference that Mr. Wolf made the move to issue the stay-at-home order after another dramatic increase in the number of COVID-19 cases was reported on Monday, when the statewide total jumped 165 new cases from 479 to 644 total. The number of deaths statewide also doubled to six.
Allegheny now has 48 cases. These counties also are reporting cases: Washington (7), Westmoreland (6, with two new ones reported Monday), Beaver (3), Butler (1), Fayette (1), and Mercer (1). Fayette and Mercer counties reported their first cases over the weekend.
“About every two days now we’re more than doubling our count,” Dr. Levine said. “It’s called an exponential rise of new cases. It’s going straight up. ... That’s why the governor is taking these actions.”
The goal, she said, is that these actions in the hardest hit counties will “flatten the curve” of new cases, instead of allowing the curve of new cases to continue to go up dramatically.
“What this is all about” with the stay-at-home order and one more week at least of schools being canceled, Mr. Wolf said, is the fear “that the spread of these cases is going to overwhelm the healthcare systems, as they are in Italy.”
“That’s what keeps me awake at night,” he said.
Sean D. Hamill: shamill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2579 or Twitter: @SeanDHamill
First Published March 23, 2020, 4:57pm
