Southeastern PA 'Will Be Among The Last' In State To Reopen: Wolf

SOUTHEASTERN PA — While Pennsylvania has begun to roll out an incremental plan for easing coronavirus restrictions and firing up portions of the economy, the greater Philadelphia area remains unlikely to see any significant reopening before other parts of the state.

It's safe to say that "the southeastern part of the state will be among the last to reopen," Gov. Wolf said during a call with reporters on Thursday, citing the already high and continually growing number of cases of the virus in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties.

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Montgomery County was the first county in the state to be shut down, as courts, schools, community centers, and other public places have been closed since March 12.

While Montgomery County was briefly the epicenter of the virus, Philadelphia saw an exponential rise that has it leading all counties in the state with 10,090 cases, as of Wednesday.

The next two counties will the most cases are Montgomery (3,395) and Delaware (2,902).

While Chester is doing a bit better than its neighbors with 989 cases, the comparatively populous eastern Pennsylvania counties account for the next highest numbers: Lehigh with 2,418, Berks with 2,212, and Bucks with 2,131.

>>Gov. Wolf Unveils 3-Phased, Color-Coded Reopening Plan By Region

There is concern that leaving all decisions on reopening in the hands of individual counties would be shortsighted. The state has a broader perspective in looking at regional data, Gov. Wolf said, and decisions need to be made

There is concern, for example, that reopening one county with low cases could expose it to a neighboring county that has a high number of cases, due to the amount of travel between neighboring counties.

Howevere, there are parts of the state have been barely touched by the virus, a geographical reality that state officials are aware of as they continue to plan exactly how the state will reopen.

"Our state is big enough that we can do this in phases," Gov. Wolf added. "What's good for Tioga County's not good for Montgomery County."

Pennsylvania has announced a three-phase reopening plan, coded by color into stages: red, yellow, green, the governor explained. Each region of the state will be assigned a color, which will determine what mitigation measures previously set to stop the spread of the virus can be lifted, if any. The governor said he plans to analyze the north-central and northwest regions first, with a target of moving from them from red to yellow on May 8.

"The goal here is to keep peope safe," Gov. Wolf said Thursday. "Not to place unreasonable restriction on people's movements."

A timeline for the length of each phase was not provided, and will likely vary by region based on the current data. To determine when it may be safe to move to a new phase, the state has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to develop a data tool using Department of Health metrics, looking at a variety of measures including the amount of cases per capita. To reopen, the target goal is an average of less than 50 cases per 100,000 people over a period of 14 days.

He added that he thought Pennsylvania was doing well overall, considering its size as the fifth most populous state in the nation.

Pennsylvania has seen 35,600 cases of the virus and 1,622 deaths as of early Wednesday.

>>>View Patch's full coverage of coronavirus in Pennsylvania