Two more COVID-19 deaths reported in Washington County
Two more COVID-19 deaths were reported in Washington County Thursday when Gov. Tom Wolf extended his stay-at-home order for most of Pennsylvania to June 4.
Wolf also said Thursday that he signed an executive order extending his ban on foreclosures and evictions from Monday to July 10 to ensure people have safe housing to prevent the spread of the virus.
“This does not relieve anyone from the responsibility of paying rent,” Wolf said when he was joined by state Attorney General Josh Shapiro in announcing the order.
During questioning from the media, Wolf said he would announce “the next round of openings” today under his color-coded plan that moves two regions from red to yellow zones. He has indicated in the past that he was considering to quickly move Southwestern Pennsylvania to a yellow zone.
However, later in the day Thursday, Wolf said today’s announcement of additional counties moving to the yellow phase, including Washington and Greene, would involve a “to-be-determined date.”
While large gatherings would still be prohibited everywhere in the state, nonessential businesses, such as retail, can reopen with social distancing stipulations in the 24 counties set to partially reopen today.
As Pennsylvania prepares to reopen some counties in the north-central and northeastern regions of the state today, all residents need to continue to follow the social distancing and mitigation efforts that are in place, state health Secretary Rachel Levine said Thursday.
“We must continue to protect our most vulnerable Pennsylvanians, which includes our seniors, those with underlying health issues, our health-care workers and our first responders,” Levine said.
The state reconciled its data on the virus and reported 310 new COVID-19 deaths over the past few weeks Thursday, taking the statewide total to 3,416 since March. All of the deaths involved adults and a majority of them were residents of long-term care facilities.
There were 1,070 additional cases of COVID-19 announced Thursday, bringing the statewide total to 52,915.
The death toll in Washington county from the virus climbed to four, with 120 positive cases of the disease reported by the state health department. One of the deaths involved a resident of a personal care home, state records show.
Greene County has experienced one death from the virus and 27 positive cases, numbers that have held steady in recent days.
Allegheny County’s death toll from the virus climbed to 117 Thursday, up six from the previous day. The county added 45 new cases of COVID-19 to its total of 1,439.
Shapiro said 1.7 million people in the state are out of work and many others will be losing their paychecks or seeing their earnings slimmed down.
“It’s going to take time for our commonwealth to fully open up,” he said.
Shapiro said landlords need to work with their tenants in figuring out payment plans to allow them to stay in their homes.
Wolf said grants through the state Department of Community and Economic Development should be available June 1 to communities to expand their homeless shelter capabilities.
Other resources are available through the state Housing Financing Agency, the United Way and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Wolf said.