AP Exclusive: Shutdown to lift around western Pennsylvania

124980913_web1_TTL101719Luzerne-County-Courthouse1

Luzerne County accepting marriage licenses through video

WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Sen. John Yudichak Friday said counties, like Luzerne, will not get a fair shake when it comes to upgrading their designation from &ldquo;red&rdquo; to &ldquo;yellow&rdquo; because the data being used is not being done through a collaborative, transparent process.
				The legislature has been excluded from this decision-making process, as has the public and the media,&rdquo; Yudichak said. &ldquo;When you have a lack of accountability and a lack of transparency, you are going to have a lack of credibility.&rdquo;
				Yudichak, I-Swoyersville, spoke out after Gov. Tom Wolf announced Thursday that he has extended the state-at-home order for &ldquo;red&rdquo; counties through June 4. He said the General Assembly will continue to subpoena records to find out how the decision was made.
				&ldquo;We need transparency and collaboration,&rdquo; Yudichak said. &ldquo;How are these decisions being made without collaboration? Folks are very frustrated and credibility is being lost.&rdquo;
				UPMC doc cited
				Yudichak cited comments of Dr. Steven Shapiro, UPMC Chief Medical Officer, made to Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Action News 4. Shapiro said &ldquo;social isolation needs to wind down.&rdquo;
				In the interview, Shapiro said, &ldquo;We are concerned that the longer we do social isolation, we&rsquo;re already seeing the mental health consequences of loneliness, and economic devastation is going to add to it.&rdquo;
				Shapiro added that doesn&rsquo;t mean social distancing or other mitigation practices need to go away, adding that it could be a while before large gatherings are a good idea.
				Shapiro said he generally supports the governor&rsquo;s phased reopening in Pennsylvania, but thinks the worst of this wave of the virus is behind us.
				&ldquo;We would advocate for a careful, cautious approach, but we think we&rsquo;re pretty ready in this region because of our surveillance testing and our ability to keep cases low,&rdquo; Shapiro said in the interview, adding that UPMC&rsquo;s data shows that a reopening is possible as long as there are special protections that remain in place for seniors and those with pre-existing conditions.
				Yudichak noted that businesses that have been allowed to remain open as &ldquo;essential,&rdquo; have acted safely and responsibly. He said other businesses can open and institute the same procedures.
				&ldquo;Grocery stores, pharmacies and others have remained open and we have seen no massive outbreak of the virus,&rdquo; Yudichak said. &ldquo;There are 1.7 million Pennsylvanians out of work. And studies and data show that for every 1 percent increase in unemployment, there is a corresponding increase in the rate of suicide and drug overdose.&rdquo;
				Yudichak said the key is for everyone to be responsible and protect the public safety.
				&ldquo;But this idea that the Administration is the only one to make these decisions is wrong,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have to work together and be collaborative as we attack this global pandemic.&rdquo;
				Yudichak said Dr. Rachel Levine, Secretary of the Department of Health, has said nursing home statistics will not be separated from total county statistics. He questioned the data being used and asked that the health department report where the COVID-19 cases are.
				Yudichak also wants to see where nursing home workers that return home and re-enter the community have spread the virus.
				&ldquo;Where is the data to support that claim? he asked. &ldquo;And where is the program to protect those workers, their families and the public? We have not seen the supporting data to justify these decisions.&rdquo;
				Friday&rsquo;s Health Department report showed that in nursing and personal care homes, there are 10,919 resident cases of COVID-19, and 1,542 cases among employees, for a total of 12,461 at 522 distinct facilities in 44 counties. Out of our total deaths, 2,458 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.
				In Luzerne County, 19 nursing homes had 332 residents with the virus, 53 infected staff and 80 deaths. There have been 120 total COVID-19 related deaths in Luzerne County.
				Wolf: Making best judgments
				Speaking generally during a virtual briefing on Friday, Wolf said his administration is constantly analyzing changing data and modeling to develop its plans.
				&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been through this before,&rdquo; Wolf said of the pandemic. &ldquo;We are making the best judgments we can to keep people safe.&rdquo;&#8203;
				Wolf said the enemy is a virus that is &ldquo;sneaky and deadly and very contagious.&rdquo; It can&rsquo;t be ignored and &ldquo;does well&rdquo; when people come into close contact, he said.&#8203;
				Like many, he said he would like to &ldquo;go back to where we were in January.&rdquo;&#8203;&rdquo;I share the frustration, he said.&#8203;
				Deaths are lower than initially projected, he said, attributing that outcome to his stay-at-home order and other restrictions and the willingness of many Pennsylvanian&rsquo;s to take precautions.&#8203;
				Responding has been stressful because officials are dealing with &ldquo;a lot of unknowns,&rdquo; he said.&#8203;
				Levine: No estimate for NEPA
				Levine said during the same briefing she can&rsquo;t estimate when Northeastern Pennsylvania will advance to the yellow phase of loosened restrictions.&#8203;
				There is still &ldquo;significant community transmission&rdquo; of the virus in the Philadelphia region and Northeast, including Northampton, Lehigh and Luzerne counties, Levine said.
				Levine again said the department is looking at where cases are coming from, such as whether they are in congregate care settings, work facilities, etc.
				&ldquo;However, we also know that those employees, whether of nursing homes, long-term care facilities, workplaces, etc., must go back into the community,&rdquo; Levine said. &ldquo;We cannot just remove the numbers from these settings from the county counts and act as if they do not exist.&rdquo;
				Levine added, &ldquo;If we are having large outbreaks at facilities in a county, and the county were to move to yellow, it could increase the risk of exposure to the general population.
				House leaders statement
				House Republican leaders issued the following statement in response to Gov. Tom Wolf&rsquo;s reopening announcement on Friday:
				&ldquo;Millions of Pennsylvanians are sitting at home out of work, while their children are not being properly educated, and their loved ones in nursing homes are still not being adequately protected by the state.
				&ldquo;The governor&rsquo;s go-it-alone approach continues to unfairly impact Pennsylvanians who want nothing more than to abide by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and provide for their families. Pennsylvanians deserve the opportunity to protect themselves without having the government shutting down their livelihoods any longer.
				&ldquo;The counties fortunate enough to be deemed &lsquo;yellow&rsquo; today, despite meeting the newly formed guidelines weeks ago, will only now start the pathway to recovering from an economic disaster they could have avoided if given the opportunity sooner. Meanwhile, residents in &lsquo;red&rsquo; counties continue to suffer under the plague of not just a pandemic, but a state unemployment system that is cracking under immense pressure.
				&ldquo;The governor has continuously said the timeline for Pennsylvanians is being determined by the virus. Well, we cannot wait any longer for the &lsquo;virus&rsquo; to return our calls.
				&ldquo;Pennsylvanians have passed the test and flattened the curve.
				&ldquo;Testing for those on the front lines, along with those interacting with the most vulnerable populations, is the key to resuming our lives, not a color-coded map.
				&ldquo;We will continue to push for expanded and effective testing so we can truly know where our state&rsquo;s resources should be best used to defeat the virus, and allow Pennsylvanians to get back to work, school and places of worship.&rdquo;

Yudichak: Counties not getting ‘fair shake’ under current process