Governor Wolf has issued new mitigation orders targeting restaurants, bars, and large gatherings to help mitigate additional COVID-19 cases.
Below are a few notes from the briefing. It is still in progress and additional details will be added as it progresses.
Gov. Wolf
- We've seen an unsettling climb of COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania over the past weeks.
- We hit our peak on April 9th at just around 2000 cases.
- Our projections are showing a potential surge that could be worse than that day.
- Just yesterday, we saw 994 new cases.
- Due to current increases, we need to act again.
- We've identified three catalysts that have contributed to the growth:
- Individuals ignoring mask/social distancing when visiting bars/restaurants.
- Out of state travel.
- A lack of national coordination. This has resulted in other states becoming Petri dishes while we worked hard to contain the spread. This virus knows no boundaries or borders.
- These three catalysts have caused an alarming growth of cases in the commonwealth.
- We are issuing a new order which will have the following additional mitigation measures:
- Restaurants will reduce indoor capacity to 25%. Current outdoor dining can continue.
- Local orders will still be in effect. Indoor dinning is still currently banned in Allegheny County.
- Alcohol consumption will be limited to taking part in food service.
- Carry out cocktails will still be permitted.
- Telework must be implemented whenever possible.
- Indoor gatherings will be limited to 25 people.
- Occupancy limits includes staff.
- Outdoor gatherings will be a limited to 250 people.
- Occupancy limits includes staff.
- Restaurants will reduce indoor capacity to 25%. Current outdoor dining can continue.
- These orders will be in effect statewide starting at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
- These new mitigation efforts will enhance our current actions.
Dr. Levine
- As of 12:00 am this morning we have 994 new cases of COVID19 in the state.
- This brings our statewide total to 97,665.
- There have been 6,957 deaths.
- We've seen an increase of case counts in 43 counties.
- Percent positivity rate has increase in 28 counties over a seven day period.
- Over the last day we have seen our single highest day of testing with over 28,000 results reported.
- There are 649 trained contract tracers across the state.
“The actions the governor and I are taking today are designed to be surgical and thus precise to prevent from repeating the cycle we saw in the spring,” said Dr. Levine. “We have gained a great deal of experience since the start of this outbreak and have learned from best practices from other states as well as counties right here in Pennsylvania.”
“We have seen these efforts work during the first wave in the spring, and they will work again if we all do our part. Thank you to every Pennsylvanian for your continued patience and support. I know you are eager for life to get back to normal, and I am, too.”
You can watch the full stream below.