Wolf’s stay-at-home order expands to 19 counties

An order that restricts people’s movement is being expanded to nine additional Pennsylvania counties, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday as his administration confirmed more coronavirus cases and deaths.

Wolf said in a statement that the expanded stay-athome order, which starts Friday at 8 p.m. and will last until at least April 6, impacts a total of 19 counties. The new counties under the order are Berks, Butler, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Luzerne, Pike, Wayne, Westmoreland and York.

The stay-at-home order restricts movement to certain health or safety-related travel, or travel to a job at an employer designated by Wolf’s administration as “life-sustaining.”

Even before Friday’s order, half of Pennsylvania’s 12.8 million residents were under a stay-at-order in an effort to slow the spread of the virus and give the state’s hospitals time to increase its staffing, equipment and bed space.

Meanwhile, Wolf signed a package of coronavirus-related legislation that passed the Legislature earlier this week.

Cases

Wolf’s administration said it had confirmed more than 530 new cases through midnight Thursday, a 30% jump to more than 2,200, and six more deaths for a total of 22.

More counties, 50 of the state’s 67 counties, are seeing their first coronavirus cases, while at least 17 nursing homes have reported a case, according to the state Department of Health.

Hospital space

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Friday that the city has reached an agreement with Temple University to use the Liacouras Center and possibly other Temple facilities for overflow hospital space, including the pavilion and parking garage.