Is Philly The Next Coronavirus Hot Spot?

PHILADELPHIA — Is Philadelphia the next coronavirus hot spot? Some White House officials fear that could be the case.

During a Wednesday news conference, Vice President Mike Pence aired his concerns about the city potentially becoming a hot spot, and asked residents to practice social distancing.

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"I spoke today to Governor Tom Wolf and as we begin to see early trend lines in Philadelphia, I assured him that we were going to continue to flow resources and support to that community," Pence said. "But our message to the people of the Philadelphia area is now more than ever, practice the social distancing so that Philadelphia and to some extent, even Pittsburgh, do not have to endure what other communities before them have had to endure."

Deborah Birx, the COVID-19 response director for President Donald Trump's administration, said during "Good Morning America" Wednesday that federal officials are concerned about cities in the mid-Atlantic region, with fears those cities could be impacted as hard as New York City.

"We are concerned about the metro area of Washington and Baltimore, and we’re concerned right now about the Philadelphia area," Birx said.

But during a news conference Wednesday, Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said he's unsure what figures Birx is using to make that claim.

"I doubt she's looking at numbers as updated as we are," Farley said. "I don't know exactly what numbers she's looking at."

Still, Farley said he is glad other federal officials are concerned about the city. Farley said while the city has 4,777 cases of the virus, the number of cases being reported daily is stabilizing.

He emphasized that the stabilized figures do not indicate a turnaround or a plateau of the virus.

"The growth is slowing," he said. As of Wednesday, the city has 78 coronavirus-related deaths.

Of those deaths, 32 were long-term care facility residents; 53 — or 68 percent — of the 78 deaths were people over 70 years old.

Philadelphia's hospitals have 616 inpatients being related for the virus. In the entire Southeast Pennsylvania region (Philadelphia included), 1,062 patients are being treated for the virus as of Wednesday.

Farley said staff in the Philadelphia Department of Public Health speak on a near-daily basis with officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In those conversations, Farley said the idea of Philly being a new hot spot has never been mentioned.

Statewide, there are 16,239 cases and 310 deaths as of Wednesday.

"We have seen a subtle flattening of the curve, which is good news," Health Secretary Rachel Levine said. She stressed that Pennsylvanians "cannot become complacent" and must continue social distancing efforts.

>>>Full coverage of coronavirus in Pennsylvania here.