Four more Pennsylvanians have died from COVID-19 complications, including the first Bucks County resident and the second in Lancaster County, according to officials’ daily updates provided Sunday.
Another 643 new positive test results were reported Saturday, bringing Pennsylvania’s total number cases to nearly 3,400 in 58 counties, state Health Secretary Rachel Levine said.
Sixty-four of the state’s coronavirus patients – just under 2 percent – live in 36 nursing homes primarily located where cases have been concentrated — in the state’s densely populated southeast region, Dr. Levine said.
“[T]hat’s less than.01 percent of the state’s nursing home population,” Levine said.
Levine, whose own mother lives in a personal care home, urged Pennsylvanians with loved ones in long-term care facilities to refrain from visiting those who aren’t in end of life situations. Instead, she urged people to stay connected with phone calls or video chat or by sending letters or cards.
Many facilities had already started restricting visitors before state and federal guidelines were issued instructing them to do so a few weeks ago.
“I know this is hard. We are seeing community spread of this virus in most areas of Pennsylvania. And we need to make sure that our loved ones in nursing homes stay safe. And that is why actually I am not able to visit my mother, either,” Levine said. “But I call – twice a day.”
As with the rest of the state’s population, nursing home staff have been told to say home if they have symptoms, she said.
“If they come to work and they’re having symptoms, … they will not be admitted into the nursing home and then … ask[ed] to get evaluated and tested,” Levine said.
The Department of Economic and Community Development is expected to offer more detailed guidance for all Pennsylvania employers on Monday, Levine said.
Levine spoke Sunday afternoon shortly after Gov. Tom Wolf announced that he is seeking a “major disaster” declaration from the Trump administration.
The additional aid that would follow such a declaration would go toward unemployment assistance, crisis counseling, community disaster loans and expanded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (i.e., food stamps), according to a letter Wolf sent Saturday to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
All 67 of the commonwealth’s counties and major cities had issued emergency declarations as of Friday, according to Wolf’s letter to FEMA.
Elk, Fulton, Forest, Bedford, Clinton, Union, Wyoming, Sullivan and Jefferson counties haven’t reported any positive test results yet.
Some public officials from rural areas believe the numbers are low because tests aren’t available.
Levine said officials “know we have an undercount in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation” and expect lower numbers from less densely populated areas, but acknowledged the limited access to testing.
Former Franklin County Commissioner Bob Thomas says the state should include data on COVID-19 testing at the county level as part of its daily update.
“It’s as critical as the per county reports [on positive results and deaths] we get now,” Thomas said.
DOH declined to answer questions submitted in advance of Sunday’s briefing and by email afterward about plans to provide more detailed breakdowns of case and testing statistics.
In northeast Pennsylvania, concerns have grown about expanding testing and a potential surge of COVID-19 cases in the region bordering virus hotpots in New York and New Jersey.
“We certainly will be working with the hospitals and health systems in the area, about having testing sites and being able to handle the increased number of cases,” Levine said.
But ultimately, it’s the federal government’s call whether to open mass testing sites – like the two in Philadelphia and Montgomery County – in NEPA, she said.
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