Pennsylvania

• 18,228 confirmed cases, 87,374 tested negative, Deaths 338

Cases by county in the 10-county region per Pennsylvania Department of Health
* case count last updated at 12:00 p.m. on 4/9/2020

State Coronavirus Updates

• Secretary Levine
  • As of 12 am Thursday, April 9, there are 1,989 new positive cases; 18,288 positive cases now statewide in all 67 counties
  • 850 are healthcare workers tested positive; 168 tested positive are in nursing homes and/or long-term living facilities
  • 2,033 have been hospitalized or 11% of total cases
  • As of 12 pm Thursday, April 9, 45% hospital beds, 37% ICU beds and 70% ventilators are still available
  • 338 deaths are adults who tested positive
  • 600 require the use of ventilators

Regional Coronavirus Updates

• University Admission Adjustment
  • Colleges until now focused on salvaging spring semester from effects of a pandemic have turned a wary eye to fall, extending enrollment decision deadlines, adjusting fees and other requirements as the admissions market suddenly grows more volatile nationally. Pitt announced that its regional campuses in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville will be ACT and SAT test-optional for the Fall 2020 admissions cycle, effective immediately. The decision was made since so many students won’t have access to in-school counseling and admission testing preparation they would have if schools weren’t closed.

• Law Enforcement Cases
  • Two more Pittsburgh police officers and an academy recruit have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The three additional positive results were officially announced by the city Thursday afternoon. Officers have been outfitted with surgical masks and N95 masks as well as gloves.

• Healthcare Capacity Unchallenged
  • UPMC’s emergency department chief said that its hospitals have nearly 100 COVID-19 patients spread across its hospitals in Pennsylvania and western Maryland but there have been no spikes in cases or surges that have been seen in other parts of the country. “We have not seen that dramatic, overwhelming surge in COVID-19 patients that we prepared for and feared, said Dr. Don Yealy, during a news conference Thursday morning. “We are seeing evidence that the pandemic is growing, but we see the possibility for a manageable future.”

Federal Coronavirus Updates

• The White House
  • President Trump is preparing to announce as soon as this week a second, smaller coronavirus task force aimed specifically at combating the economic ramifications of the virus and focused on reopening the nation’s economy, according to four people familiar with the plans. The task force will be made up of a mix of private-sector and top administration officials, including chief of staff Mark Meadows — whose first official day on the job was last week — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and national economic adviser Larry Kudlow, a senior administration official said.
• Department of Labor – 6.6 million Americans applied last week for unemployment.
  • “The 17 million figure includes new reporting from the Labor Department that even more people filed for unemployment in the prior week, pushing the jobless claims up during the week ending March 28 to a record 6.9 million, up from 6.6 million. … Janet L. Yellen, one of the world’s top economists, said the U.S. unemployment rate has jumped to at least 12 or 13 percent already, the worst level of joblessness the nation has seen since the Great Depression. ‘It looks like the unemployment rate is headed to 15 percent,’ said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Bank, in a note to clients. ‘This isn’t a recession, it’s the Great Depression II.’
• National Academies of Sciences – Coronavirus unlikely to significantly diminish with warm weather
  • A panel convened by the National Academies of Sciences reported to the White House on Tuesday that the novel coronavirus is unlikely to wane substantially with the arrival of summer, though there are many uncertainties remaining. These findings are in line with previous studies offering hypotheses regarding how the virus may behave in warmer and more humid conditions and is an attempt to help distill the evidence for and against reduced virus transmissibility during warm weather.