By Dave Lemery | The Center Square
Pennsylvania officials sounded a note of optimism during their news conference Monday afternoon, noting that while the total number of coronavirus cases continues to rise, the daily rate of new cases is slowing.
Gov. Tom Wolf and Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine delivered an update on an outbreak that has sickened 12,980 Pennsylvanians and claimed the lives of 162 people, according to the latest numbers. Of the total number of cases, 1,470 were new as of early Monday morning, which is when the state collects their data.
Levine said there are currently 1,613 people hospitalized in the state with the virus. She could not provide any numbers on how many people have been discharged after recovering from COVID-19 but said she hoped to have that information by the end of the week.
She suggested that the number of new cases may be reaching a plateau, but she and Wolf were adamant that such promising signs were no cause for easing up on movement restrictions.
“At this point it’s too early to tell,” Wolf said. “[Social distancing] seems to be making a difference. … We are starting to see that the early exponential increase in cases has given way to a much flatter [curve], so the surge may not be as great as we once anticipated. That’s our fervent hope.”
The governor also continued to ask Pennsylvania companies to step up and produce personal protective equipment, saying that while the state is searching for equipment to buy, it was best in such a crisis to be as self-reliant as possible given that many other states are also in the market for such materials.
He noted that while no one company in Pennsylvania may have the ability to manufacture ventilators, which help to keep this in extreme respiratory distress alive as they fight the virus, many manufacturers can produce components for ventilators. To that end, his administration has created a web portal where companies can share information about their ability to contribute.
“Today I’m asking Pennsylvania manufacturers, Pennsylvania distributors, to visit the portal … [and] to report their critical supply chain capabilities,” he said.
The governor also was optimistic that his suggestion that all Pennsylvanians should wear face masks in public during the crisis would be listened to.
“As I drove up here from York County [to Harrisburg], I saw a lot of people wearing masks,” he said. “Again, this is the kind of thing that’s very different. It’s like it was when we started wearing seat belts in cars. It’ll take some time, but the idea is that this is for our own protection.
“This is the first day, it’s a little early to tell,” he added. “But Pennsylvanians have been really great about doing the things we need to do to keep the surge from getting out of hand.”
