Mar 30, 2020 3 min read

Pennsylvania schools are now closed indefinitely and nonessential business will remain shuttered as the number of COVID-19 deaths and positive cases of the virus rise in the state.

Gov. Tom Wolf made the announcement Monday, adding four more counties to his stay-home order until April 30, a date that is in step with recommendations from the White House, the governor said.

“Business is closed as long as we need them to be closed until it’s safe,” Wolf said during a 2 p.m. briefing on the pandemic.

Forty-eight Pennsylvanians have died from COVID-19 after 11 new fatalities were added to the count Monday.

The state Health Department said there were 11 new deaths Sunday from the virus as the number of cases also continued to increase in Southwestern Pennsylvania, including Washington and Greene counties.

“The continued rise in cases combined with our increasing deaths from COVID-19 reflects the seriousness of this situation,” health department Secretary Rachel Levine said Monday.

Wolf had issued stay-home orders in 22 counties, including Washington, Westmoreland and Allegheny, in an attempt to slow the community spread of COVID-19. The counties added to the order Monday were Carbon, Cumberland, Dauphin and Schuylkill.

Twenty-six of the state’s 67 counties are under Wolf’s order for people to stay home unless absolutely necessary to slow the community spread of the disease.

Wolf said the state hopes to have an alternative to “brick and mortar” public school early next week.

He said he was moving toward making the stay-home order statewide because coronavirus has “reared its ugly head in an overwhelming number of counties.”

He said the federal government has established two temporary hospitals in the Philadelphia area, even though the virus had yet to strain Pennsylvania hospitals.

“We know that these prolonged mitigation effects have been difficult for everyone, but it is essential that everyone follows these orders and does not go out unless they absolutely must,” Levine said.

The number of COVID-19 cases increased Sunday to 4,087, statewide, up from 3,394 Saturday. The positive cases have shown up in 59 counties.

Washington County had 26 cases Sunday, up two from the previous day. Greene saw one new case, with a total Sunday of seven. Westmoreland County had 55 cases Sunday, an increase of eight from the previous day. Fayette County had 11 cases, up one from Saturday.

Meanwhile, Allegheny County experienced 25 new coronavirus cases Sunday, the county’s health department said today.

“We strongly urge all people in Allegheny County to stay at home to slow the spread of the virus in our community,” the department stated in a news release.

No new deaths were recorded in Allegheny, where two people have died from COVID-19. There have been no other deaths from the virus in Washington, Greene, Westmoreland and Fayette counties.

Thirty-eight of the 290 people who had tested positive for the virus in Allegheny required hospitalization.