When Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday said he would soon ease some coronavirus restrictions in 13 western Pennsylvania counties ― bringing to 37 the total number that are reopening ― he and his top health officer gave no timetable for the Lehigh Valley.
But state Sens. Lisa Boscola and Mario Scavello both think the Valley should start reopening soon.
Boscola, a Northampton County Democrat, told The Morning Call that infectious disease experts have said they believe the region could safely have some virus restrictions lifted. And Scavello, a Monroe County Republican, said he believed the region could move from “red” to “yellow” in Wolf’s color-coded restriction classification system.
“The trend is positive. The peak was like three weeks ago,” Boscola said of the virus pandemic in the region. “I always felt the Lehigh Valley should go into yellow sooner rather than later.”
The entire state was in the red phase until Friday, when 24 counties moved to yellow.
In those places, stay-at-home orders are lifted and retail stores can open. But people are still encouraged to practice social distancing and wear masks, and restaurant dining rooms are closed.
Wolf said Friday that 13 more counties will join the first group, effective May 15. The 13 additional counties are Allegheny, Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland.
Wolf and Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine were asked repeatedly during a press briefing on Friday about the other 30 counties. The two officials signed an extension of the stay-at-home order for the rest of the state that lasts until June 4.
“We are just making the best judgment we can in keeping people safe,” Wolf said.
House Republicans issued a statement that backed widespread lifting of restrictions, and it blasted Wolf’s latest announcement.
“Millions of Pennsylvanians are sitting at home out of work, while their children are not being properly educated,” the statement said. “The governor’s go-it-alone approach continues to unfairly impact Pennsylvanians who want nothing more than to abide by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and provide for their families.”
The extension of the stay-at-home order to June 4 in the Lehigh Valley also raised the concern of Tony Iannelli, president and CEO of Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Iannelli said he’s heard from about a dozen business owners who have grave concerns about Wolf’s order.
“Many of these local companies are on life support, and this is a blow they didn’t need,” Iannelli said.
On Friday, Levine said that “significant community transmission” of coronavirus is continuing to occur in Lehigh, Northampton and Luzerne counties and the nearby region.
Wolf and Levine said measuring sticks they use to decide which parts of the state have restrictions lifted include a numerical metric involving new virus cases, health system readiness, capacity for both testing and contact tracing, and modeling done by Carnegie-Mellon University.
As of Friday, Lehigh County’s rate of new virus cases over a 14-day stretch was 159 per 100,000 people, and the figure for Northampton was 200.
A level of 50 per 100,000 has been set as a maximum for a county to have restrictions lifted, but Wolf and Levine have said the public has put too much emphasis on the metric and it is only one in a group of reopening criteria.
“I understand the frustration,” Wolf said of areas that remain in the red zone. “I share that frustration.”
He called the virus sneaky, deadly and very contagious. Frustration, he said, should not distract the public from how easily it spreads.
On Friday, the Health Department added 200 deaths that have occurred over a period of weeks to the overall total from the virus, bringing the Pennsylvania death toll 3,616. Of those, 2,458 or about 68% were associated with nursing homes or personal care homes.
Wolf, like Boscola, is a Democrat. Asked if she has told the administration of her opinion on a reopening for the Lehigh Valley, Boscola said, “They know where I stand.”
Scavello said any reopening of the Lehigh Valley should be carried out under guidance from the CDC. He said certain types of businesses ― including car dealers and real estate sales ― should be allowed to reopen immediately with proper virus-fighting precautions.
A third lawmaker, Sen. Pat Browne of Lehigh County, declined to speak about a timetable for reopening his county.
Browne said he wants to have restrictions lifted in an “expeditious but safe” manner.
Browne said his job ― as applied to the reopening ― was to evaluate the criteria being used by Wolf to lift restrictions.
Among counties that Wolf has designated for relaxed restrictions, the first group of 24 ― all in the north-central and northwest parts of the state ― were announced last week. Collectively, they have about 1.5 million residents.
The newly added 13 counties have nearly 2.7 million residents.
The only western county held back from reopening, Beaver County, is home to perhaps the state’s worst nursing home outbreak, where dozens have died and a congressman is calling for an investigation.
Among other developments related to the coronavirus crisis:
- Lehigh County Coroner Eric D. Minnich provided data that showed 155 county residents have died from the virus, with the average age of those who died being slightly over 80.
- Wolf and Levine revised their business closure orders issued on March 19 to allow non-urgent and non-emergency dental procedures to resume. Levine said there are strict guidelines that must be followed, and “this isn’t a return to routine dentistry.”
- A Bethlehem official said that as of Wednesday, the city had 591 positive-test cases of coronavirus. Also, 24 deaths were recorded with slightly more than half of them associated with long-term care facilities.
- The city of Allentown added 17 new cases on Friday, bringing its overall total case count to 1,956.
Morning Call reporters Christina Tatu, Andrew Wagaman, Manuel Gamiz Jr. and Anthony Salamone, and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
