COVID-19 Update: Friday, July 17

The following is the latest information from Pennsylvania’s state government as of 4:00 p.m. on Friday, July 17.

Department of Health

The Department of Health has introduced a Hand Hygiene Toolkit that consists of a memo, poster, and audit tool, tracking, and guidance documents.

Department of Health – by the numbers

Today’s new COVID-19 case count is the highest since the virus’s resurgence in Pennsylvania late last month.
Nearly 40 percent of yesterday’s new cases came from Philadelphia and Allegheny counties.
The growing number of new cases is not resulting in significant increases in the number of Pennsylvanians hospitalized for COVID-19 or breathing with the help of a machine although both of those numbers are very slowly rising.
Pennsylvania now has 35 confirmed cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), with another 17 possible cases under investigation.
7400 Pennsylvania health care workers have now contracted COVID-19.
Currently unoccupied are 38 percent of state hospitals’ acute-care beds, 36 percent of their ICU beds, 54 percent of their pediatric beds, 26 percent of their pediatric ICU beds, and 67 percent of their airborne isolation rooms.
638 Pennsylvanians have tested positive on COVID-19 serology tests.

Department of Community and Economic Development

Governor Wolf announced that the state will make available $50 million in grants through a new COVID-19 PA Hazard Pay Grant Program funded by CARES Act money and administered by the Department of Community and Economic Development to help employers provide hazard pay to workers in life-sustaining occupations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program seeks to help employers provide hazard pay to retain current employees. This reimbursement-based grant is for employers that will be offering hazard pay over the eligible program period. Grant funds may be used for hazard pay for direct, full-time, and part-time employees earning less than $20 an hour, excluding fringe benefits and overtime. Funds may only be used for hazard pay for eligible employees for the 10-week period from August 16, 2020 through October 24, 2020. Applicants may apply for up to $1,200 per eligible full-time equivalent employee. The hazard pay must be paid to the eligible employee over the 10-week period of August 16, 2020 through October 24, 2020 as a $3/hour hazard pay increase to their regular pay rate. Employers may apply for a grant to provide hazard pay for up to 500 eligible full-time equivalent employees per location ($600,000 maximum grant per location). No employer may receive more than $3 million of the funding under the COVID-19 Hazard Pay Grant Program. Health care organizations are eligible. For further information, see the Wolf administration’s announcement about the program, visit the Department of Community and Economic Development’s program web page, and review the program guidelines.