Coronavirus in Pennsylvania

Businesses are starting to recover from pandemic-related layoffs and economic activity, according to a new survey from PNC. One hundred fifty small and mid-size Pennsylvania business owners and executives responded to the survey.

Some Pennsylvania school districts are permitting more fans in the stands in the wake of a federal judge’s ruling that tossed statewide pandemic limits on crowd size, while legislative Republicans prepared Wednesday to renew their push to enshrine local control of school sports into law.

A report published Tuesday makes the case for a low-income fare program for public transit in Allegheny County. Pittsburghers for Public Transit, a grassroots organization of transit riders, advocates and operators, called on the Port Authority of Allegheny County to allow the lowest-income riders to use public transit for free. 

One of Pittsburgh's top independent music halls is closing because of the coronavirus pandemic.

University of Pittsburgh and UPMC researchers plan to start human trials early next year for an antibody therapy that might both prevent and treat COVID-19.

Some Pittsburgh Public Schools students experienced slow connections or none at all on the first day of online classes Tuesday. All classes are being held online through at least the first nine weeks of school.

Mark Stuckey, the district’s interim chief technology officer, said there was a configuration issue with the district’s Internet bandwidth provider, causing students to bottleneck through a smaller backup server when trying to access the district’s web resources. 

Pennsylvania restaurants will be allowed to seat more patrons inside after Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday he is relaxing restrictions on indoor dining.

Pennsylvania’s largest medical system reports that its COVID-19 patients are experiencing better outcomes than what was seen at the start of the pandemic, though it’s not clear why this is occurring.

Data from the Allegheny County Health Department show that racial disparities in COVID-19 cases increased after the early summer surge of infections.

Members of Nurses of Pennsylvania and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania are calling on state legislators to include nurses in talks about pandemic recovery policies. The groups have held multiple virtual town halls since March.

Out of more than 1,000 tests, there were just 14 new cases of COVID-19 reported Wednesday in Allegheny County. That is the lowest daily case count in more than two months.

A Pennsylvania congressman has announced that he is postponing public events after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said he is following guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and working from home in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.

“I am thankful to God that my grown children were not at home and that my wife Shelley has tested negative," said the congressman, who represents a portion of east-central Pennsylvania, in a statement.

Fall sports could be back on at high schools across Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League announced Friday an end to their two-week delay in favor of starting the season Monday. 

Amid questions over mask-wearing requirements in schools, Gov. Tom Wolf's administration is trying to make it clear that masks are to be worn practically at all times by students in school, drawing complaints that school leaders must again change their preparations.

The administration this week released additional guidance that Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Tuesday clarifies the state's intentions for mask-wearing in schools as they prepare to reopen in the coming days and weeks.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt life in the region; overall, residents of Allegheny County are still traveling less compared to 2019. However, bike miles have gone up.

Nursing home employees may soon be required to have weekly coronavirus tests according to a press release from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Pennsylvania state government agencies are providing school leaders with advice about how to respond when students or employees with confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been on school property, from cleaning and tracing their contacts to shutting down buildings for two weeks or longer.

Pennsylvania reported nearly 1,000 new virus cases and another 24 new coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, bringing the state’s total to more than 122,000 Pennsylvanians infected and more than 7,400 dead.

Students are arriving on campus at the University of Pittsburgh this week. But instead of crowded crosswalks and lines for parking, students pushed freshly sanitized moving carts to their dorm rooms with little downtime.  

The university’s arrival staff worked with its health and safety advisory board to draw up a move-in plan that took months to revise and finalize, according to Olivia Phillips, Pitt’s arrival coordinator. 

The Allegheny County Health Department is pleading with bars and restaurants to continue following state and local regulations aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19.

Earlier this summer the Allegheny County Health Department recommended that people who were returning from out-of-state travel should quarantine for two weeks, unless they could get two consecutive coronavirus tests that were both negative. 

Mayors in Pennsylvania are challenging the state's members of Congress to help them get direct budget aid from the federal government, warning that cities of all sizes face steep deficits and deep service cuts as a result of the coronavirus' impact on the economy.

The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League, or WPIAL, said Monday that fall sports can be played safely and criticized what it called "inconsistent messaging” from state officials.

In a press conference, WPIAL Executive Director Amy Scheuneman said the league agrees with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s move last week to postpone mandatory sports events for two weeks rather than cancel play through the fall. As of now, WPIAL plans to start its football season Sept. 10th.  

Pennsylvania's new cases of COVID-19 reached 601 on Monday, the state Health Department reported, and there three additional deaths were reported.

Under pressure to give schools more health guidance about how to safely reopen, Gov. Tom Wolf's administration said Monday that it will provide recommendations to school districts based on the local rate of transmission of the coronavirus.

The coronavirus pandemic upended commuting patterns in the Pittsburgh region. In the early months of Pennsylvania’s shutdown, traffic dropped by as much as 50 percent in Allegheny County, according to Streetlight Data. On average, PennDOT officials say vehicular traffic remains about 20 percent lower than normal.