May 22, 2020 3 min read

Gov. Tom Wolf will give the COVID-19 green light next week to 17 counties in mostly the northern portions of the state, allowing residents there to begin resuming more normal lives.

All of the remaining counties in the state that are in red zones, including Philadelphia and the hard-hit eastern regions, will move to the yellow caution phase by June 5 when Wolf’s stay-at-home order expires.

“My stay-at-home order did exactly what it was supposed to do. It saved lives,” Wolf said during a Friday afternoon online briefing.

Washington and Greene counties joined several others in Southwestern Pennsylvania in moving from red to yellow a week ago, allowing more nonessential businesses such as retail to reopen. Restaurants were still limited to selling take-out food, and barbershops, salons and massage businesses remained closed.

The novel coronavirus has killed 4,984 residents of Pennsylvania since March 6, a number that increased by 115 new deaths Friday.

There were 866 new cases of the virus announced Friday. Of the 66,258 people who have tested positive for the disease, 57% of them have recovered, state Health Secretary Rachel Levine said.

Five deaths have been attributed to Washington County, where four new positive cases were recorded Friday, taking the total to 134. Greene County remained at 27 positive cases, and the virus has not caused any deaths there.

The 17 counties moving to green are Bradford, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Montour, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Venango and Warren.

Residents in green zones will need to continue to take precautions, including reducing building capacity, encouraging teleworking, wearing masks in public, limiting visitation in certain high-risk environments and preventing large entertainment gatherings, Wolf said.

Wolf said the pandemic appeared in the state at a time when it was not known if there was a successful way to stop it from spreading.

“We know not only that we succeeded in slowing case growth, but that our actions, our collective decisions to stay at home and avoid social contact – we know that saved lives,” Wolf said.

The COVID-19 incidence rate in the state stands at 83.4 cases per 100,000 people. Two weeks ago, it was 113.6 per 100,000. Most other states are seeing their new case rate continue to increase or remain flat. Pennsylvania is one of just 19 states with new case-rate declines, Wolf stated in a news release.

The state will continue to “ramp up” its response team and testing, he said. The testing capabilities increased by 65% since May 8.

State Rep. Pam Snyder issued a news release after Wolf’s announcement in which she stated her extreme disappointment that Washington, Greene and Fayette counties were not included in his plan to move parts of the state to the green phase.

“Our communities have done their part and have helped flatten the curve and are practicing safe behaviors, and that includes my district offices,” said Snyder, a Democrat from Greene.

Sndyer said she will urge Wolf to reconsider his decision.