Mar 31, 2020 3 min read

Pennsylvania expanded its COVID-19 stay-home order to include seven new counties Tuesday to help slow the spread of the virus and keep hospitals from becoming strained.

State Health Department Secretary Rachel Levine said the state had 63 new deaths from the coronavirus Monday and urged residents to not leave their homes unless it’s a matter of health or safety.

“If we do not stay home, stay safe, we will see the worst-case scenario of these models,” Levine said during a Tuesday briefing on COVID-19.

The state has seen 4,843 positive cases since March 6 when the first coronavirus patients were detected in Pennsylvania, Levine said.

Meanwhile, Allegheny County Health Department warned Tuesday that it believed there were “many, many” undetected COVID-19 cases in its communities.

The department said it no longer receives follow-up information on individuals who have the virus after they were released from hospitals.

The county also said its investigators have no follow-up either with confirmed cases beyond the initial contact unless an issue is raised.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths in Pennsylvania rose Monday to 63, an increase of 15 from the previous day.

Gov. Tom Wolf also closed public schools indefinitely Monday to help slow the spread of the virus.

Washington County recorded seven new cases of the virus Monday, taking its total number to 33. Westmoreland County saw six new cases, with a total now of 61. Greene County had two new cases, up from seven the previous day. Fayette County’s total rose to 14, up by three from Monday. There have been no COVID-19 deaths reported in those counties. Beaver County reported its first death from the virus Monday, and recorded 52 positive COVID-19 cases that day.

Allegheny reported 35 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, 10 more than it had confirmed a day earlier. The confirmed cases there reached 325 Tuesday. There were no new deaths in the county where two people have died from the virus.

Levine said there have been early indications the state’s mitigation efforts were helping because she has not been seeing the number of new cases double within two days as they did last week in certain areas.

“We are watching the data. It’s too early to draw any conclusion,” Levine said Tuesday.

She said the University of Pittsburgh was developing models to track the spread of the virus, and the state was awaiting its results.

While the intensive-care beds in Pennsylvania’s were not being strained Tuesday, the state was still expecting a surge of new patients, Levine said.

Washington, Westmoreland and Allegheny counties remained under Wolf’s order for residents to stay at home. Somerset County was added Tuesday to the list, as well as Cameron, Crawford, Forrest, Franklin, Lawrence and Lebanon.