All Pa. counties will be in 'yellow' coronavirus reopening phase by June 5 under Wolf administration

All Pa. counties will be in ‘yellow’ coronavirus reopening phase by June 5 under Wolf administration plan


HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania counties still under strict coronavirus restrictions — including hard-hit Philadelphia, its suburbs, and the Lehigh Valley — will move to the “yellow” reopening phase on June 5, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday.

“My stay-at-home order did exactly what it was intended to do: It saved lives,” Wolf said during a news conference, as he touted the state’s progress containing COVID-19. “Over the past two weeks, we have seen sustained reductions in hospitalizations. … Our new case rate has been shrinking.”

The announcement comes as the governor faces increasing political pressure to ease shutdown measures that have decimated local economies and resulted in more than two million residents seeking jobless benefits.

By June 5, Wolf said all counties will at least be in the yellow phase of his tiered reopening plan. The last to go will be Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Northampton, Montgomery, and Philadelphia — counties that have yet to meet a case-decline standard Wolf’s administration established to determine when areas can safely begin loosening lockdown orders.

Read more: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2020/05/pennsylvania-yellow-phase-counties-june-5/