No Fayette, Greene or Westmoreland COVID-19 cases confirmed as Allegheny County’s total increases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) confirmed an additional positive case of COVID-19 in Allegheny County Sunday afternoon, bringing the county’s total to three and the statewide total to 63 cases, up 34% from Saturday’s total of 47 per state figures.
The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), though, reported a different county figure Sunday, announcing two positive cases to bring Allegheny’s total to four. The ACHD said the two individuals are adults in their 60s, one hospitalized and the other in isolation at home. ACHD said that it is not currently testing for the virus but noted that the DOH state laboratory and commercial laboratories are testing. Allegheny Health Network confirmed Sunday that Jefferson Hospital is currently treating an adult patient with confirmed coronavirus.
The 63 positive cases in Pennsylvania includes one adult in Washington County, announced Friday, and no other confirmed cases in western Pennsylvania.
There have been 446 patients to date who have been tested or are in the process of being tested, according to DOH. There are 205 who have tested negative, and 183 patient samples are either at the lab for testing or on their way to the lab.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said in a press release Sunday that the state expects more Pennsylvanians with COVID-19 in the coming days and weeks and noted that Pennsylvanians have a higher chance of testing positive for COVID-19 if they have traveled to a country or state with known community outbreaks or have come in contact with someone who has the virus.
DOH has advised that health care providers who feel a patient should be tested can order tests without consulting with DOH through a commercial lab. For testing, the state public health laboratory is prioritizing people who are severely sick for unknown reasons, people in congregate care settings, people in contact with known cases of COVID-19 and health care providers.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) on Sunday announced that schools are not required to provide any type of instruction during the closure of schools due to COVID-19 response efforts. Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday that all Pennsylvania schools, K-12, will be closed for 10 business days effective Monday.
“PDE recognizes that the rapidly evolving pandemic may make it impossible to implement continuity of education plans,” the department stated in a press release Sunday.
PDE said that intermediate units are preparing to offer technical assistance for schools interested in developing plans to continue education, support that the department said will be available by Friday.
Preschool Early Intervention programs should suspend all services to children and families in alignment with public K-12 closures, PDE further announced Sunday, adding that PA Pre-K Counts (PKC) and Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program (HSSAP) grantees operating within a K-12 building should also close.
The Pennsylvania Department of Aging on Sunday announced it has released COVID-19 guidance to Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), saying that AAAs make the determination to temporarily close a senior community center in their planning and service area due to COVID-19 unless specifically directed by the governor’s office. The department offered flexibility as to how a AAA and senior center can meet the nutritional needs of its members, including offering meals as a take-out meal that participants can pick up, packaging and delivering meals to participants’ homes, offering shelf-stable, frozen and grab-and-go meals and enrolling participants in a state program for in-home meal service.
The state has strongly encouraged the suspension of large gatherings, events, conferences of 250 individuals or more, discouraged individuals from traveling to recreational activities like gyms, movie theaters and shopping malls, and initiated a no-visitor policy at all State correctional facilities and nursing homes to ensure the safety of inmates, residents, staff and visitors. The state also restricted visitors in state centers effective Sunday to protect individuals with an intellectual disability.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued an order Sunday afternoon forcing all restaurants and bars in the state to close indefinitely at 9 p.m. that night, allowing establishments to stay open for carry-out and delivery. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued the same order Sunday effective the end of business day Monday through March 30.
There were more than 3,200 confirmed cases in the United States and more than 162,000 worldwide as of Sunday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center, which listed 6,065 total deaths and 75,620 recovered.
The DOH on Sunday encouraged Pennsylvanians to stay home to avoid passing COVID-19 on to others, clean surfaces frequently, cover any coughs or sneezes with their elbow instead of their hands and wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
The state has touted social distancing, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as remaining out of congregate settings, avoiding mass gatherings, and maintaining a distance of approximately 6 feet from others when possible.
Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath and may appear two to 14 days after exposure.