the week in review
A BRIEF ROUNDUP OF THE LOCAL NEWS OF THE WEEK
Tom Petty told us the waiting was the hardest part — and he was right. We see it during these agonizing days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the world we live in waits for medical supplies and equipment, test results, and the development of a vaccine.
We wait for the numbers of cases to stop rising. And we wait for life to get back to normal.
Last week, we learned that many of the delays and postponements in our region will go on longer than we had hoped. What’s worse is that the loss of sporting events, concerts, daily business and government operations, and social activities is hammering our economy.
VisitPittsburgh, the city’s tourism promoters, told staff writer Mark Belko that more than 60 events scheduled for March, April or May have been canceled or postponed, including the Pittsburgh Marathon, which last year drew more than 20,000 people from 47 states, two U.S. territories and 23 countries.
The cancellations and postponements have cost the region $55 million in direct spending, VisitPittsburgh estimates, and the number is likely to climb as the city was just was moving into the meat of its tourism season, with most events scheduled during the summer.
On Wednesday, staff writer Sharon Eberson reported that the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announced that all events and exhibitions will cease through May 10. But the organization, which is busy planning its 2020-21 PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh season, expressed optimism, saying “this is just intermission,” a tagline that is being displayed on marquees throughout the Downtown Cultural District.
Staff writer Sara Bauknecht informed us that the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre has canceled its engagement at The Joyce Theater in New York City at the end of April, and its season closer, “Balanchine + Tchaikovsky,” scheduled for April 17-19 at Downtown’s Benedum Center, has been postponed.
Staff writer Patricia Sheridan went out to Pittsburgh International Airport, where the gates and baggage claim areas remain open but eerily quiet as tourism and business travel both have plummeted. Wait times for security screening are nonexistent. Delta and Southwest airlines have cut flights 70% and nearly 40% respectively, and American Airlines is essentially using our airport as a parking lot, waiting out the crisis.
Meanwhile, the airport’s $1.1 billion massive modernization project has been grounded. Officials said it’s unlikely that site preparation work will begin April 23, as originally anticipated.
At one time, the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which operates Pittsburgh International, had hoped to start construction of a new terminal for ticketing, baggage and security this summer. But that timetable is in jeopardy.
“I am expecting that will be pushed back,” said Christina Cassotis, the authority’s CEO.
The region’s hotels are getting hit hard as Mark Belko found in a report showing that in one 48-hour period, the 102-room Best Western Plus Cranberry-Pittsburgh North experienced $68,000 in cancellations. On Monday night, only two rooms were rented.
Hotel managers decided to shut down with hopes of reopening April 14.
“We’ve been through tough situations before. But this is by far much worse than any of those situations we’ve encountered in the past,” said managing partner John Delozier.
They aren’t alone, of course. Occupancy at Allegheny County hotels averaged 18% last week — a drop of 75% compared with the same period last year. Downtown, it was even worse, with occupancy averaging 8% — down 90% year over year.
Staff writer Lauren Rosenblatt reported Friday that U.S. Steel is delaying construction for its $1 billion project at the Mon Valley Works, reducing capital spending and idling some operations.
The project, which was set to break ground in September, was to be running at full capacity by mid-2023.
Officials make changes
Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday signed a five-week delay of Pennsylvania’s 2020 primary election, which both chambers of the state Legislature had unanimously agreed to earlier in the week. The April 28 balloting will take place — tentatively — on June 2.
“Delaying this year’s primary election as several other states have done is in the best interests of voters, poll workers and county election officials,” Mr. Wolf said in a statement promising that “Pennsylvania has a fair and accessible election.”
State officials are urging voters to request mail-in ballots as an alternative to inperson voting. More than 215,000 registered voters have signed up for a mail-in or absentee ballot so far, according to the governor’s office.
Staff writer Ed Blazina reported that late Thursday the Department of Homeland Security announced it won’t enforce the requirement of the new Real ID driver’s license or ID card until Oct. 1, 2021. The cards, which are harder to duplicate, were to be required for airport travel and access to federal buildings by Oct. 1 of this year.
Pennsylvania has issued about 700,000 new cards so far — just over half of the 1.3 million residents expected to want one.
In local travel, the Port Authority decided that with ridership down more than 50%, a 25% cut in service was in order. The modified schedule, which went into place Wednesday, is less service than normal but not as reduced as Saturday, Sunday or holiday service. The schedule was developed
“with a scalpel rather than an ax,” spokesman Adam Brandolph said.
The new schedules are available on the agency’s website. The agency is maintaining its usual Saturday and Sunday schedules.
The governor last week also said that the statewide shutdown of K-12 schools will continue for at least an additional week, through April 6. This while child care providers across the state said that their services are being stretched “to the breaking point.”
The University of Pittsburgh on Friday announced that students will take summer courses remotely.
“While we would certainly have liked to return to in-person classes, it is not safe or feasible given the circumstances and time frames we face,” Provost Ann Cudd wrote in a message to faculty and students.
Pennsylvania tops in jobless claims
Staff writers Kate Giammarise and Patricia Sabatini on Thursday reported that there were 378,900 new claims for unemployment benefits in Pennsylvania the previous week — six times the highest number on record — reflecting the stunning number of residents out of work because of COVID-19.
Before the outbreak, the highest number of first-time claims in the state was 61,181, which was recorded in January 2010, according to Labor Department figures dating back to 1987.
The latest figures accounted for the most new claims of any U.S. state, including the epicenter of the pandemic, New York, which reported 80,300.
The concern is whether the state has the resources — in equipment and manpower — to handle the crush of new applicants for assistance.
“Pennsylvania is really the epicenter of the unemployment insurance claims,” Mr. Wolf said. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure we turn these things around as quickly as possible.”
On Wednesday, legislators in Harrisburg approved a bill to make temporary changes aimed at easing some requirements for workers and employers.
On the business front
Giant Eagle reported Friday that employees across five locations had tested positive for COVID-19. Stores in New Kensington, North Huntingdon, McCandless and Altoona were listed, as was a GetGo in Brunswick, Ohio.
The O’Hara-based grocery chain is now closing all stores at 9 p.m. to sanitize and restock.
Meanwhile, staff writer Stephanie Ritenbaugh learned that top executives at Dick’s Sporting Goods are taking pay cuts.
While the sporting goods stores remain closed, store employees are receiving full pay and benefits, the company has stated.
But starting today, Dick’s Chairman and CEO Ed Stack and President Lauren Hobart, will receive no salary, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. They will continue to receive benefits provided by the Findlay-based retailer.
In 2019, Mr. Stack’s base salary was $1.1 million. Ms. Hobart’s base salary was $775,000.
The base salaries of all other members of the company’s senior management team, as well as other salaried employees, are being temporarily reduced by graduated amounts.
But not everyone out there is pitching in. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Thursday that his office has received nearly 3,000 tips about price gouging amid the pandemic.
Staff writer Andrew Goldstein reported that Mr. Shapiro’s office is looking out for stores taking advantage of the crisis to inflate product prices. They’ve already sent out about a hundred ceaseand-desist letters to stores that were not cooperating.
“The good news is that most of them are cutting it out,” Mr. Shapiro said in a video posted on his Instagram account. “Most of them are not overly and excessively charging you for that product.”
The attorney general’s office can fine a store up to $10,000 if it still does not comply after receiving a ceaseand-desist letter.
Hope behind the mask
If you’ve been following the news — and we certainly hope that you have — you’re well aware of the severe shortage of medical masks.
Staff writer Jeremy Reynolds last week wrote about a loose-knit community of makers producing hundreds of face shields and masks using 3D-printing technology. They are then donating them to hospitals and health care professionals. It’s a small effort that’s rapidly gaining steam.
The hobbyists in Pittsburgh are attempting to go through formal hospital channels to determine whether their creations are medically sound. To date, neither Allegheny Health Network nor UPMC have been able to respond with a formal assessment, even though dozens of individual doctors and nurses have contacted the makers to request supplies.
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration updated its guidelines in regard to the safety of 3D-printing personal protective equipment, or PPE. The FDA stated that “3D-printed PPE can be used to provide a physical barrier to the environment. However, 3Dprinted PPE are unlikely to provide the same fluid barrier and air filtration protection as FDA-cleared surgical masks and N95 respirators.”
“The very last thing we want to do here is undermine the system,” said Joe Dornetta, 31, of Verona, who is printing face masks under the project title Infinite Labs. “But I’m convinced that this is the future in a city like Pittsburgh, where we so readily embrace technology and medical exploration.”
Get out of jail healthy
Staff writer Paula Reed Ward reported that nearly 500 inmates have been released from incarceration as part of an effort to reduce the at-risk jail population.
President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark, of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, on Thursday told the County Council public safety committee that the jail population, which was at 2,224 on March 1, is now at 1,725.
Many of those who have been released were considered to be at high risk of contracting the virus, whether because of pre-existing health conditions or other factors.
“We are releasing people who are nonviolent offenders who are at risk,” Judge Clark said. They are not considered “inherently dangerous to the community.”
However, prosecutors from the Allegheny County district attorney’s office have objected to the release of at least some inmates, who they believe are a risk to public safety.
More counties lock down
Pennsylvania on Friday added Butler and Westmoreland to a growing list of counties around the state on which the governor has imposed stay-at-home orders, adding to 19 counties now under such orders, including Allegheny. The orders for the two counties, and seven others added Friday, will stay in effect till at least April 6.
The addition of Butler County came as we learned that U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, a Butler County Republican, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
Mr. Kelly, who spoke with staff writer Julian Routh by phone, said he was feeling “a little achy” earlier this week and thought he might be coming down with the flu. His doctor said he should make sure it wasn’t COVID19 and ordered him a test, which the 72-year-old congressman took at a drivethrough testing site at Butler Memorial Hospital.
“I’m glad I picked it up early. I’m glad I got to my doctor and asked him to check it out for me,“Mr. Kelly said, ”and so far, so good. It’s just a matter of getting a lot of rest and staying hydrated.”
Mr. Kelly’s symptoms are mild, he said, and he remains in self-quarantine.
Morgantown nightmare
Some of the most disturbing news came out of a nursing home in Morgantown, W.Va., where 29 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed.
Mary Wade Triplett, spokesperson for the Monongalia County Health Department in West Virginia, told staff writer Mick Stinelli the cases include 21 residents and eight staff members.
As of Friday, there were 76 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in West Virginia, the last state in which the virus was contracted.