HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania counties still under strict coronavirus restrictions — including hard-hit Philadelphia, its suburbs, and the Lehigh Valley — will move to the “yellow” reopening phase on June 5, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday while also moving some north-central and northwest counties to the green phase next week.
“My stay-at-home order did exactly what it was intended to do: It saved lives,” Mr. Wolf said during a news conference, as he touted the state’s progress containing COVID-19. “Over the past two weeks, we have seen sustained reductions in hospitalizations. ... Our new case rate has been shrinking.”
By June 5, Mr. Wolf said all counties will at least be in the yellow phase of his tiered reopening plan. The last to go will be Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Northampton, Montgomery, and Philadelphia — counties that have yet to meet a case-decline standard Mr. Wolf’s administration established to determine when areas can safely begin loosening lockdown orders.
The counties moving to green on May 29 are Bradford, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Montour, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Venango, and Warren.
The green phase lifts most restrictions on businesses but still requires them to follow social-distancing guidelines and other safety precautions. Restaurants, bars, gyms, hair salons, and barbershops will only be allowed to operate at 50% capacity, and large gatherings will be restricted. Officials said they will release more details next week.
Additionally, eight counties will be able to move to yellow on May 29: Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Lebanon, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, and Schuylkill.
After the governor's announcement, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said he was “not surprised” the county was not moved to the green phase.
“We've only been in the yellow phase for one week. No county -- not just Allegheny-- that has been in [yellow phase] for one week has been moved to green,” he said.
“But I'm optimistic that we and our neighbors in southwest PA will move into the green” as soon as two weeks from now, with an announcement possibly next week, he said.
“I think what [the state] would like to see is 14 days of” low daily new COVID-19 positive cases, he said.
That said, once Allegheny County moves to green, which still includes restrictions on large gatherings and social distancing, it does not mean a return to normal, which may not come for months or a year or more.
“I don't think we're going to get to unlimited moving around until we have a vaccine or cure,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.
“You hope our numbers remain low. People have been responsible. Wearing their masks, keeping their social distance,” he said. “I'm optimistic we'll get to green soon.”
Democratic state Rep. Pam Snyder, who represents Greene, Fayette and Washington counties, said she was disappointed they were not getting the green designation next week.
“Our communities have done their part and have helped flatten the curve and are practicing safe behaviors, and that includes my district offices,” Ms. Snyder said in a news release.
■ Yellow phase counties■■ Moving to "yellow" May 29■■ Moving to "green" May 29■■ Moving to "yellow" June 5
Note: Data as of May 22
Source: Pennsylvania Department of Health, Associated Press
Design/development: Ed Yozwick/Post-Gazette
“While the governor said the state has closely monitored yellow counties for outbreaks, we have had zero outbreaks,” she added. “This doesn’t make sense. Once again, my residents deserve answers as to why we weren’t included in the counties that have moved to the green designation.”
At Friday’s news conference, state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said moving into the green phase still requires precautions, adding “the threat will not go away until we have a vaccine or cure.”
The 17 counties going to green have maintained various yellow metrics for 14 days, showing that they are ready to move to green, she said.
Mr. Wolf said Friday that residents who live in counties moving to the green phase should continue to wear masks in public, wash their hands, and implement social distancing.
So far, state officials have moved 49 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties to the yellow phase, allowing some businesses to resume in-person operations and the public to move more freely. In this phase, limitations on public gatherings remain, and restaurants and bars remain closed to in-person business. Gyms, salons, malls, and movie theaters also remain closed.
Public health experts were split on the wisdom of the governor’s move to reopen every county, if only partially, including the hardest hit ones in the southeastern part of the state. Officials have said counties need to have sufficient levels of testing and contact tracing to identify and track new cases and prevent them from becoming outbreaks.
Mike LeVasseur, an epidemiology professor at Drexel University, said the state still does not have enough contact tracers in place to pinpoint where clusters of the coronavirus are occurring.
"There hasn’t been enough staff to be able to handle the epidemic that we’ve had,” he said. “Why don’t we just hold off for a bit, and wait a couple of weeks until we have a better idea of what the situation is?”
Chrysan Cronin, director and professor of public health at Muhlenberg College, said she’s always viewed one of the administration’s key metrics for partially reopening a county — fewer than 50 positive cases per 100,000 people over a two-week period — as arbitrary.
“That is not a scientifically proven number," she said. “We don’t learn about that in epidemiology school. They set a bar so they could watch the trends over time.”
Partially reopening the entire state becomes dangerous, Ms. Cronin said, if people view it as a license to return to their normal patterns of daily life. The challenge for state officials, she said, will be to send a strong message to residents that they must continue taking precautions, such as wearing masks, practicing social distancing, and limiting their movements.
Post-Gazette staff writer Kyle Mullins, Cynthia Fernandez of Spotlight PA and Philadelphia Inquirer staff writers Anna Orso and Chris Brennan contributed to this article.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and PennLive/Patriot-News. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter.
First Published: May 22, 2020, 5:42 p.m.
Updated: May 22, 2020, 10:41 p.m.
