COVID-19 Update: Wednesday, July 1

The following is the latest information from Pennsylvania’s state government as of 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, July 1. There will be no update on Friday because of the 4^th of July holiday.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional legislation passed by the General Assembly to limit or terminate Governor Wolf’s exercise of emergency authority when he issued a “Proclamation of Disaster Emergency” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision stresses that the court addressed only the constitutional question and not whether either the exercise of emergency authority or its termination constituted sound public policy.

Department of Health

Department of Health Secretary Levine signed an order that masks must be worn whenever anyone in Pennsylvania leaves home. The order, which the Secretary is authorized to issue under the state’s Disease Prevention and Control Act, takes effect immediately. Go here to see Governor Wolf’s announcement about the new order and here to see the order itself.
The Department of Health distributed 3162 doses of the drug remdesivir to 80 Pennsylvania hospitals; remdesivir is used to treat patients in the hospital with COVID-19. The state received the drug today from the federal government. See an announcement about the shipment here.
The department has introduced an online form for long-term-care facilities to report the results of the required baseline universal testing of residents and staff. Testing must be completed by July 24 and results should be submitted within 48 hours of completing the baseline testing.
The department has introduced an online early warning monitoring dashboard that provides information on state-wide and county COVID-19 prevalence to track increases in the disease on a weekly basis. Data included in the dashboard will include, on a county-by-county basis:
- difference in confirmed cases (last seven days vs. previous seven days);
- incidence rate (last seven days and previous seven days) per 100,000 residents;
- COVID-19 test positivity rate (last seven days and previous seven days);
- difference in the average daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the last seven days and the previous seven days;
- difference in the average daily number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators in the last seven days and previous seven days; and
- percent of hospital emergency department visits in the last seven days and previous seven days due to COVID-like-illness.

Go here to see the department’s announcement about the new dashboard and here to see the dashboard itself.

Department of Health – by the numbers

The number of new COVID-19 cases reported today was greater than for all but one day in June and the number of newly reported deaths is the highest in six days.
Despite the increase in the number of new cases, the number of Pennsylvanians hospitalized with the disease continues to decline and today is lower than at any time in June and is less than half of what it was a month ago (634 people hospitalized today, 1302 hospitalized on June 1).
More than 21,000 residents and employees of 699 long-term-care facilities in 52 of the state’s 67 counties have tested positive for COVID-19.