The following is the latest COVID-19 information from Pennsylvania’s state government as of 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 12.

The Wolf Administration

The Wolf administration has announced that event and gathering maximum occupancy limits will be raised for indoor and outdoor events and gatherings as of Monday, May 17.  Mask requirements remain in effect, consistent with recent federal CDC guidelines, and the new state limits do not preclude municipalities, school districts, and venue operators from imposing stricter mitigation requirements.  Learn more from this Wolf administration news release.

Department of Health

Pennsylvania has shifted to the federal vaccine locator site, vaccines.gov, as the primary web site to which it is now directing people who are looking for a place to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.  On the site, individuals enter their zip code, the distance they are interested in traveling to receive a vaccine, and, if they wish, they can specify which vaccine they want.  The site’s search function then generates a list of vaccine outlets beginning with those closest to the zip code.  See the Department of Health announcement of this transition and go here to view the federal vaccine locator site.

The Department of Health has issued updated guidance for long-term-care facilities on how to respond to an outbreak of COVID-19 or when residents have been exposed to COVID-19.  The updated guidance includes a new decision-support tool to assist with decision-making in response to outbreaks and also offers clarification about visitation during outbreaks.  Find the updated guidance here.

Department of Health – by the numbers

• The daily number of new COVID-19 cases has fallen over the past week.
• The number of COVID-19 deaths generally remains where it has been over the past three weeks.
• For the week from April 30 through May 6, the state’s overall COVID-19 test positivity rate was 6.6 percent, down from 7.6 last week and 8.6 percent the week before.
• Twelve counties had a positivity rate lower than five percent and no counties had a positivity rate greater than 20 percent, the third consecutive week for these levels.
• Two counties are currently experiencing low levels of community transmission of COVID-19, one fewer than the past two weeks; 25 counties are experiencing moderate levels of community transmission, up from 20 last week and 11 two weeks ago; and 40 counties are currently experiencing substantial levels of community transmission, down from 44 counties last week and 53 the week before
• The number of Pennsylvanians hospitalized with COVID-19 has fallen 22 percent since May 1; the number in hospital ICUs has fallen 18 percent since May 1; and the number on ventilators because of COVID-19 has fallen 13 percent since May 1.
• On Thursday Pennsylvania will pass the four million mark for the number of people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.  Another 579,000 have been vaccinated in Philadelphia as of Monday, May 10.  Among those 579,000 are 53,000 non-Philadelphians, according to city figures.

Department of Human Services

DHS has issued an announcement that modifies October 2020 guidance and provides temporary closure guidance to older adult daily living centers, structured day programs, LIFE day centers, adult training facilities, and vocational facilities related to the community spread of COVID-19 or when more than one individual or staff member is diagnosed with COVID-19 and spent 15 minutes or more in the facility within a 24-hour period starting two days prior to symptom/illness onset, or for asymptomatic individuals, two days prior to the test specimen collection date, until the time the person is isolated.  This announcement also describes the process for reopening facilities using the Community Participation Support and Older Adult Facility Reopening Tool and provides guidance for mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in facilities.  For a list of the types of facilities and programs to which this guidance applies and to see the modified guidance itself, see DHS’s announcement.

U.S. Treasury Guidance to State and Local Governments

The Treasury Department posted an interim final rule, not yet published in the Federal Register, on Monday implementing the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund established under the American Rescue Plan Act.  The interim final rule addresses uses of the $350 billion from the American Rescue Plan, including for public health expenditures, addressing the negative effects of the public health emergency, replacing lost public-sector revenue, providing premium pay for essential workers, and more.  This guidance will be key to FY 2021-2022 budget deliberations and how the governor and General Assembly ultimately decide to allocate these funds.

Learn more from the following resources:

• The interim final rule
• The Treasury Department’s fact sheet
• The Treasury Department’s quick reference guide

Around the State

• Lancaster County providers are adjusting their communication strategies to improve their outreach to religious communities, such as the Amish and Mennonites, that may not use computers and cellphones and therefore may have limited access to information about the importance of COVID-19 vaccines and fewer tools for signing up for vaccines.  WITF tells the story.
• Pennsylvania leads the country in the steepness of its decline in the number of new people receiving COVID-19 vaccines, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, elaborating that “In a Kaiser Family Foundation survey that found waning demand nationwide, Pennsylvania led the U.S. in the steepness of the decline; Kaiser set Pennsylvania’s drop-off in demand at 86.5% for the week ending April 29, steeper than any other state.”
• The city of Philadelphia has announced its plans for relaxing COVID-19-related occupancy limits and other limits.  Some of the eased limits take effect on May 21 and others on June 21 and encompass restaurants, offices, retail stores, catered events, gyms and indoor pools, outdoor pools, indoor and outdoor gatherings, casinos, and more.  Indoor mask requirements will remain in effect.  See the city’s news release for more details.
• Chester County has enlisted the services of EMS companies to help bring COVID-19 vaccinations to people who cannot get to vaccine providers.  The Daily Local News has the details.

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from Pennsylvania’s state government as of 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 23.

Governor Wolf

Governor Wolf has issued an executive order about regulatory relief post-COVID-19, calling on state agencies to recommend actions to reduce or eliminate regulatory impediments to economic, health and safety, and employment recovery.  The order, directed at all departments, offices, boards, commissions, and councils under the governor’s jurisdiction, applies to all regulatory statutes or parts thereof temporarily suspended under 35 Pa. C.S. § 7301(f) from March 6, 2020 to the present and to all regulations or parts thereof temporarily suspended under 35 Pa. C.S. § 7301(f) from March 6, 2020 to the present.  Agencies that suspended regulations are directed to evaluate the legal, administrative, public health and safety, and fiscal effects of maintaining the suspensions outside of the COVID-19 disaster emergency; to recommend whether the suspension should be made permanent and which regulations should lapse after COVID-19; and to outline the actions necessary to make permanent any recommended changes.  The agencies are directed to complete this work by May 4.  To learn more, see the governor’s executive order in the April 24, 2021 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin, pages 9 and 10 (pages 2259 and 2260 in the bulletin).

Department of Health

The Department of Health has updated its alert explaining its decision to follow federal guidance and temporarily direct providers to stop administering the Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine.  Changes are highlighted in yellow.

Department of Health – by the numbers

• The daily number of new COVID-19 cases, while still very high, has fallen slightly in the past week.
• The number of COVID-19 deaths, which had been declining even amid rising case counts, has been much higher over the past two weeks.For the week from April 9 through April 16 the state’s overall COVID-19 test positivity rate was 9.6 percent, up slightly from 9.5 percent last week.Four counties currently have a positivity rate lower than five percent, down from seven last week and 10 the week before; only one county has a rate greater than 20 percent, the same situation as the past two weeks.Three counties are currently experiencing low levels of community transmission of COVID-19, the same as last week but down from five the week before that; nine counties are experiencing moderate levels of community transmission, down from 14 last week and 17 the week before; and 55 counties are currently experiencing substantial levels of community transmission, up from 50 counties last week and 45 the week before.
• The number of Pennsylvanians hospitalized with COVID-19, in hospital ICUs because of COVID-19, and on ventilators because of COVID-19 is slightly higher than it was a week ago but is down over the past three days.
• Currently, 17 percent of adult ICU beds in the state are unoccupied, as are 14 percent of medical/surgical beds, 11 percent of pediatric ICU beds, 22 percent of pediatric beds, and 33 percent of airborne isolation units.
• Pennsylvania passed the three million mark for fully vaccinated residents today according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.  An additional 471,000 people have been vaccinated in Philadelphia, according to the city’s Department of Health.

Department of Human Services

On March 15 the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) raised Medicare payments for administering each dose of COVID-19 vaccines to $40.  Now, DHS has decided to raise the Medicaid fee to the same $40, effective March 15.  Go here to see the Medical Assistance Bulletin announcing the fee increase.

Around the State

• PennLive reports that the state Senate has extended its temporary rule enabling senators to participate in the chamber’s proceedings remotely during the COVID-19 emergency.  A previous extension expired on March 31 and this one lasts until May 31.
• Acting Department of Health Secretary Alison Beam received her first COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday.  She tweeted a photo.
• Demand for COVID-19 vaccines is not strong in pockets of Pennsylvania, including Erie, according to the Erie Times-News; in the Pittsburgh area, as reported by KDKA; in Bradford, Lebanon, York, and Adams counties and parts of Dauphin, Mifflin, and Lycoming counties, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer; and in Philadelphia, Philly Voice reports.
• In response to declining demand for vaccines and the continuing challenge of vaccinating hard-to-reach people, the state intends to re-engage with the kinds of smaller providers, like neighborhood pharmacies and physician offices, that it cut off from vaccine supplies early in the year amid a change of direction in which it focused on working with larger providers that could vaccinate more people in shorter periods of time.  The AP explains.

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from Pennsylvania state government as of 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 16^th.

Department of Health

• Early in the week The Department of Health notified all COVID-19 vaccine providers to stop administering doses of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine until at least April 20 following the recommendation to do so from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration.  On Thursday it extended this pause until April 24.
• The Department of Health also issued an alert to providers conveying the same message.  The alert outlines the medical rationale for the decision and advises providers on symptoms to monitor among patients who have received this vaccine.  Find that alert here.
• The Department of Health has made public data shared by skilled nursing facilities through last month’s mandatory COVID-19 Vaccine Needs Assessment survey.  Data may be downloaded here by facility and by county.  These rates will serve as a benchmark and the survey will be conducted quarterly, with the next survey at the end of June.  The statewide average facility vaccination rate for residents was 78.84 percent and for staff/contractors was 52.64 percent.
• The Department of Health published its vaccine strategy for long-term-care facilities, which includes three group purchasing organizations (GeriMed, Innovatix, and Managed Health Care Associates, Inc.) and CVS/Omnicare that will supply eligible long-term-care pharmacies with vaccine allocations that may be requested by long-term-care facilities as additional needs arise.
• The Department of Health reports that in March its nursing home surveyors conducted 570 inspections, including 283 complaint investigations of 396 separate nursing homes.  Of these, 244 were COVID-19-specific investigations.  Learn more about recent nursing home surveys, investigations, and vaccine efforts from this Department of Health news release.

Department of Health – by the numbers

• The daily number of new COVID-19 cases has risen sharply over the past four days:  the highest four-day total since January.
• The number of COVID-19 deaths, which had been declining even amid rising case counts, has risen sharply in the past four days as well.
• For the week from April 2 through April 8 the state’s overall COVID-19 test positivity rate remained the same 9.5 percent it was last week, halting a three-week rise in this important measure.
• Seven counties currently have a positivity rate lower than five percent, down from 10 last week and 17 counties the week before; only one county has a rate greater than 20 percent, the same situation as last week.
• Three counties are currently experiencing low levels of community transmission of COVID-19, down from five last week and six the week before that; 14 counties are experiencing moderate levels of community transmission, down from 17 last week and 26 the week before; and 50 counties are currently experiencing substantial levels of community transmission, up from 46 counties last week and 35 the week before.
• The number of Pennsylvanians hospitalized with COVID-19 has risen 25 percent since April 1; the number in hospital ICUs because of COVID-19 has risen 28 percent since April 1; and the number on ventilators because of COVID-19 has risen 26 percent since April 1.
• Currently, 18 percent of adult ICU beds in the state are unoccupied, as are 12 percent of medical/surgical beds, 11 percent of pediatric ICU beds, 22 percent of pediatric beds, and 32 percent of airborne isolation units.
• Pennsylvania passed the 2.5 million mark of vaccinated residents yesterday and according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, more than 2.6 million Pennsylvanians have now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.  An additional 438,000 people have been vaccinated in Philadelphia, according to the city’s Department of Public Health.

Around the State

• Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler has tested positive for COVID-19, is experiencing mild symptoms, and is recovering and quarantining at home.  The Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports on Cutler’s illness and its implications for state House operations.
• The state Senate will consider extending a temporary rule that permits members to participate in the chamber’s deliberations remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to PennLive.
• Delaware County has begun offering COVID-19 vaccines to high school students who are 16 years of age and older.  The Delaware County Times tells the story.
• Driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lancaster city’s council has joined several other Lancaster County municipalities in expressing interest in the county creating its own health department, Lancaster Online reports.
• Even though Westmoreland County has been hit hard by COVID-19, an area health system reports that vaccine appointments are going unfilled, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• After intervention by members of Philadelphia’s congressional delegation, the FEMA mass vaccination site in the city’s Pennsylvania Convention Center, scheduled to close after April 26, will remain open for an additional month.  WHYY tells the story.
• Philadelphia’s health commissioner received his own COVID-19 vaccine; The Philadelphia Inquirer offers instant replay via Twitter.  Governor Wolf will receive his next Monday.
• St. Luke’s University Health Network has launched a COVID-19 recovery clinic for COVID-19 long-haulers, according to the Allentown Morning Call.
• Next Monday, Berks County will introduce a hotline for people who are struggling to find vaccine appointments.  The Reading Eagle provides the details.

The following is the latest COVID-19 information from Pennsylvania state government as of 4:00 p.m. on Monday, April 12^th.

Governor Wolf

Effective Tuesday, April 13, all Pennsylvania adults will be eligible to schedule an appointment for the COVID-19 vaccine.  This is six days earlier than the administration previously stated.  Learn more from this Wolf administration news release.  The announcement does not affect the city of Philadelphia, which intends to follow to its plan to broaden eligibility next Monday, April 19.

Department of Health

• The Department of Health has updated its infection prevention and control recommendations for health care settings that was last revised in September of 2020.  Changes and additions are noted in red throughout the document.
• The Department of Health has announced a partnership with Latino Connection and Highmark Blue Shield to launch the first statewide COVID-19 mobile vaccination clinic tour to provide vaccinations and education targeting minority and underserved communities.  The program will include mobile units to conduct a statewide vaccination and education tour; a Facebook page to register for vaccines; and 100 events in corner stores and bodegas where individuals who do not have access to the internet, or who are in need of assistance, can pre-register for vaccines.  Learn more from this Department of Health news release.
• The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and Department of Health announced the opening of a regional vaccination clinic on Penn State’s University Park campus in Centre County.  Initially this site is expected to administer 600 doses a day.  Go here for information on location, hours, and how to sign up for vaccines.
• The Department of Health has established a new free COVID-19 test site in Monroe County.  The site will be open through April 18.  For information about hours and location, go here.

Department of Health – by the numbers

• The daily number of new COVID-19 cases has risen in the past two months and remains high.
• Despite the rising number of new COVID-19 cases, daily death totals continue to decline and have been in single digits for four of the past nine days.
• For the week from April 2 through April 8 the state’s overall COVID-19 test positivity rate remained the same 9.5 percent it was last week, halting a three-week rise in this important measure.
• The number of Pennsylvanians hospitalized with COVID-19, in hospital ICUs because of COVID-19, and on ventilators because of COVID-19 all continue to rise slightly.
• Currently, 19 percent of adult ICU beds in the state are unoccupied, as are 16 percent of medical/surgical beds, 12 percent of pediatric ICU beds, 26 percent of pediatric beds, and 35 percent of airborne isolation units.
• According to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, 2.4 million Pennsylvanians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and an additional 363,000 people have been vaccinated in Philadelphia, according to the city’s Department of Public Health.

Department of Human Services

DHS has announced that the state will work with Walgreens to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to staff and residents of congregate care settings licensed by DHS that were not part of the federal Pharmacy Partnership Program.  This program is expected to vaccinate approximately 2200 people living at 100 facilities through mid-April.  Learn more from this DHS news release.

Around the State

• Allegheny County has opened its first COVID-19 clinic in the Mon Valley, according to WESA radio.  It is expected to administer up to 200 vaccines a day and will focus on people facing barriers to access to care.
• Demand for COVID-19 vaccines in Erie County has fallen and fewer people are struggling to schedule appointments, the Erie Times-News reports.
• FEMA’s mass vaccination clinic at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia is scheduled to close on April 26 and four members of the state’s congressional delegation are asking the White House to keep it open.  Currently the clinic is administering about 6000 vaccines a day, making it the single largest provider of vaccines in the city.  The Philadelphia Inquirer tells the story.
• The Billy Penn web site features a map and a list detailing more than 200 sites in Philadelphia where people can get COVID-19 vaccines.  Most are by appointment only, and the site also features information about different ways to search for vaccine appointments.