Pa. state troopers will enforce business closures

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported another 108 COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the statewide total to 479 known positives.

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine said since the start of the outbreak, some 47 COVID-19 cases in the state have required hospitalization (roughly 10%) and there’s no indication the number of cases has peaked anywhere.

On Sunday night, Gov. Tom Wolf reminded Pennsylvanians the state would begin enforcing an order to close all “non-life sustaining” businesses Monday morning.

Enforcement of the order was pushed to Monday at 8 a.m. after confusion over what counted as life sustaining was followed by a wave of businesses seeking exemptions.

On Sunday, officials reported almost 10,000 waivers were filed with the state.

Like the New Jersey and Delaware governors, Wolf said closing non-life sustaining businesses would buy the healthcare system time.

“We all need to change the way we live our lives,” said Wolf. “We’ll have to do that for a period of time so that we can emerge safe and healthy. We need time for our hospitals to prepare for the surge and we need time to develop a vaccine.”

In addition to ordering only essential businesses remain open, Philadelphia and governors in neighboring states Delaware and New Jersey ordered residents to stay indoors unless it’s for essential tasks such as grocery shopping.

Wolf refrained from making a similar order this weekend, though he said the measure was under consideration.

“If we have to do more, we will,” he said.

According to Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner, Colonel Robert Evanchick, state troopers were ready to enforce the governor’s order to close non-life sustaining businesses.

Evanchick said troopers would make every effort to achieve voluntary compliance.

“But our message is clear: COVID-19 is a serious health and public safety risk that requires an extraordinary response from law enforcement and the public,” he wrote in a statement. “I urge everyone to stay home, stay calm and stay safe.”

Citing the Pennsylvania Disease Prevention and Control Law of 1955, Evanchick said those violating the governor’s order could face fines and even jail time.

Enforcement of the order was pushed to Monday at 8 a.m. after confusion over what counted as life sustaining was followed by a wave of businesses seeking exemptions.

On Sunday, officials reported almost 10,000 waivers were filed with the state.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, health department and Department of agriculture will also enforce the order.

Coronavirus cases now in every N.J. county

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced 590 new COVID-19 cases in the state on Sunday, bringing the total to 1,914.

Murphy said four more people have died, bringing the total number of fatalities in the state to 20.

The four patients were all over 70 and two of them had underlying health conditions, according to Health commissioner Judith Persichilli.

There are now positive cases in every county in New Jersey, which Murphy said was expected as testing ramps up.

“We’re all going to die keeping the number as low as we humanly can,” said Murphy, who continued to stress that the only way the state could slow the pace of the spread of the virus is to remain indoors unless it’s absolutely necessary to go out.

Doing so, said Murphy, would give medical professionals a fighting chance in the battle against the virus.

In the same vein, Persichilli announced the state would manage a new centralized system to collect and distribute donated and purchased personal protective gear to medical professionals treating patients.

Murphy also announced Sunday that he would make telehealth mental health services available to 3 million New Jersey residents without co-pays.

Jared Maples, Director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security, also warned residents against misinformation regarding the origins of the coronavirus and rumors of an “impending national lockdown.”

“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security national operations center, the National Security Council, along with my office here in New Jersey have publicly reiterated this information is false,” said Maples, who stressed people should get their information from official resources.

N.J. residents ordered to stay home

Only essential businesses — such as grocery stores, pharmacies, and convenience stores — were allowed to open Sunday morning, after New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ordered all other businesses to close their doors by 9 p.m. Saturday and banned public gatherings. Those who flout the rules may be charged by law enforcement, Murphy said.

Murphy’s executive order requires residents to keep six feet apart while in public, with exceptions made for romantic partners, household members and caretakers.

While New Jersey is the first state to order residents to stay indoors, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has similarly ordered all “non-life sustaining” businesses to close. However, confusion over what counted as life sustaining was followed by a wave of businesses seeking exemptions, which has pushed enforcement of that order to Monday at 8 a.m.

Delaware Gov. John Carney ordered the state’s beaches and boardwalks closed Saturday.

“For every person infected with COVID-19, they typically infect two to three additional people,” said Dr. Karyl Rattay, director of the Division of Public Health, in a statement. “That’s why the steps that Gov. Carney has taken to close schools, restaurants and bars, recreational facilities and beaches is so important. We need to take these steps to prevent widespread outbreaks and slow the spread of the virus.”

Testing sites open in Philly, Montco, New Jersey

With drive-thru testing sites opening this week in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, officials expect the number of COVID-19 cases to rise.

Philadelphia opened a testing site at Citizens Bank Park on Friday and another opened at Montgomery County’s Temple University campus in Ambler on Saturday.

New Jersey launched a drive-thru testing site in the epicenter of its outbreak in Bergen County.

That site reached testing capacity early Sunday, according to Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco. The Bergen County Community College site will reopen at 8 a.m. Monday, the same day a second drive-thru site is slated to open at Monmouth County’s PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.

Due to a nationwide shortage of personal protective gear, health care workers in the region have asked the public for masks and other donations.

“We are desperate for more PPE equipment, personal protective equipment,” Murphy said Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week.” “We’ve had a big ask into the strategic stockpile in the White House they’ve given us a fraction of our ask.

“We are as a state — private sector, public sector, nonprofits — turning over every stone, but we need a lot more PPE both to protect our healthcare workers and to treat the sick.”

Hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have also worked to make room for an influx of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization.