County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said Gov. Tom Wolf’s decision to keep Allegheny County in the “red” phase under his stay-at-home order is no surprise to him.
“While we have done extremely well, we also recognize that the counties which will be moving to the yellow phase have better numbers,” he said in a Friday statement. “I’m also encouraged by the fact that the governor said that southwest Pennsylvania is close and hopeful that we will move to yellow in the next announcement.”
For now, he said, the county must remain vigilant and follow the guidance outlined by health professionals.
Mr. Fitzgerald also said work will continue with health-care providers to increase testing, do contact testing and case investigations, address outbreaks and other issues and “work closely with all of our residents and businesses to be certain that we are ready to move forward.”
On Friday, the Wolf administration announced that next week it will begin reopening 24 counties in large swaths of northwest and north-center Pennsylvania — the first step in a tiered plan to gradually lift sweeping orders that have shut down nearly every aspect of daily life because of COVID-19.
They will enter the “yellow” phase of his color-coded reopening plan on May 8th, allowing businesses to resume in-person operations and residents to freely leave their homes under precautions.
The counties allowed to do so are Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango, and Warren.
Mr. Wolf did not provide a timeline for reopening other counties. Some officials in the southwest region objected to their counties, particularly those with lower populations and low case counts, being left off the list.
“I know that residents and businesses would have liked to have seen us included in today’s announcement,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “I will continue to talk and work with the governor and his administration and advocate for the opening of additional businesses that are following [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance in their operations.”
He also encourage businesses to figure out the “new normal” for them and what changes are necessary “to ensure the safety of their employees and customers.”
“Thank you,” Mr. Fitzgerald said, “for doing all of the things that we have been asked to do, but we need to continue doing those things until there is a treatment or a vaccine for this virus.”
When the county does get the OK to move forward, “we will be ready,” he said. “As I’ve said all along, this is a marathon, not a sprint.”
First Published: May 2, 2020, 1:25 p.m.