PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Governor Tom Wolf announced Friday the reopening of 24 counties in the northwest and north-central regions of the state, moving them from red to yellow beginning at 12:01 a.m., Friday, May 8.
Counties Moving to Yellow Reopening
The 24 counties that will move from red to yellow on May 8 are: Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango, and Warren.
"I am eager to see us continue to work together to achieve a swift and safe reopening on May 8 in 24 counties and many in more counties to come in the not too distant future," said Gov. Wolf as he announced that those 24 counties, including 10 in our area will move from the red phase to the yellow phase next Friday.
"This includes retailers that can implement social distancing measures as well as services such as child care. The yellow phase recognizes that outbreaks of COVID-19 are still possible. Operations that can't allow social distancing must remain closed."
The counties in our area transitioning to the yellow phase are Bradford, Centre, Clinton, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Union, Snyder, Sullivan, and Tioga. That means that stay-at-home orders in those counties will be lifted next Friday.
While some businesses will be allowed to reopen under these guidelines, some will not. Restaurants and bars must remain takeout only.
Gyms, spas, casinos, and theaters must stay closed.
Hair salons and nail salons will also have to stay closed which is a change from what the state told us earlier this week.
"The point is, every human-to-human contact is a chance for the virus to spread, so more contacts means a higher likelihood of an outbreak. If we see an outbreak for one of the counties that move into the yellow phase, we'll have to revert back to red category until the new case count falls again."
This all means that those 10 counties across northcentral Pennsylvania have met the state's criteria of fewer than 50 new cases per 100,000 people over the course of 14 days.
These counties were deemed ready to move to a reopening – or yellow phase – because of low per-capita case counts, the ability to conduct contact tracing and testing, and appropriate population density to contain community spread.
The governor's office said reopening decisions follow the six standards outlined in the governor’s plan to reopen Pennsylvania. These include adhering to:
• Data-driven and quantifiable criteria to drive a targeted, evidence-based, regional approach to reopening.
• Clear guidance and recommendations for employers, individuals, and health care facilities and providers for assured accountability.
• Adequate and available personal protective equipment and diagnostic testing.
• A monitoring and surveillance program that allows the commonwealth to deploy swift actions for containment or mitigation.
• Protections for vulnerable populations such as limitations on visitors to congregate care facilities and prisons.
• Limitations on large gatherings unrelated to occupations.