Apr 15, 2020 3 min read

Pennsylvania’s health secretary Wednesday ordered essential businesses to take precautions to protect their employees and customers from COVID-19 as the number of deaths from the virus continued to climb in the state.

Employers, including grocery store and pharmacy owners, are now required to take their employees’ temperatures and send them home if they are sick, and also make workers wear masks.

“Thank you for keeping our refrigerators stocked,” Gov. Tom Wolf said during an afternoon briefing on the state’s response to the pandemic. “You deserve more protection,” Wolf said, referring to those who are working on the front lines during the pandemic.

Wolf said the order from health Secretary Rachel Levine also requires employers to ensure their workers practice self distancing, even in break rooms. Certain businesses are also now required to make sure customers wear masks and provide COVID-19 training to their employees.

They also are required to take specific action if there is an exposure in their businesses to the novel coronavirus. The order also applies to manufacturers and farmers.

It came at a time when the state’s mitigation efforts had “flattened the curve” in the number of new cases, and Wolf said preparations were being made to slowly reopen the economy.

Wolf also indicated he would reject any efforts in the state Legislature to change the state’s plans for reopening businesses.

“We’re trying to do things that make Pennsylvania safe,” he said. “We will soon be moving into a reopening phase.”

Pennsylvania added 1,145 new positive cases to its total, which reached 26,490 Wednesday. Allegheny County saw two more deaths from the novel coronavirus, taking its total number of victims to 26.

“We must continue to stay home to protect ourselves, our families, our community,” Levine said, adding that now is not the time to become complacent with mitigation efforts designed to slow the spread of the virus.

The spread of the virus continued to show evidence of slowing in Washington and Greene counties. Washington added one new case of the virus, taking its total to 71, and Greene held steady at 23.

Eleven people have died from COVID-19 in Westmoreland County, an increase of five from Tuesday. The number of positive cases in Westmoreland increased by six, taking its total to 237.

The number of cases topped 900 in Allegheny County for the first time. The county had 904 positive cases Wednesday, an increase of 11 from the previous day.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said the county’s early efforts to ask nonessential businesses to voluntarily close appeared to have helped stop the spread of the virus in the Pittsburgh area.

“We’re not declaring victory by a long shot, but we are making progress, Fitzgerald said during a online briefing Wednesday with the media.

“We need to continue to listen to our experts,” Fitzgerald said.

Upon an exposure to COVID-19, employers are ordered to:

• Close off and ventilate areas visited by that individual;
• Wait a minimum of 24 hours, or as long as practical, before beginning cleaning and disinfection;
• Clean and disinfect all spaces, especially commonly used rooms and shared electronic equipment;
• Identify and notify employees who were in close contact with that individual (within about 6 feet for about 10 minutes);
• Ensure that the business has a sufficient number of employees to perform these protocols effectively and immediately.