Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Delaware County sets emergency declaration as precaution to a presumed case of the virus.
While no new cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus have been detected in Delaware County, county officials Saturday declared a state of emergency as they continue to respond to the first presumed case of infection here.
“The best news that we can report this afternoon is that there are no new cases in Delaware County,” Delaware County Council Vice Chair Dr. Monica Taylor said at an afternoon update. “We have been working around the clock to ensure we are doing everything we can on our end to protect our residents and prevent the spread.”
The emergency disaster declaration, signed Saturday by Delaware County Council Chairman Brian Zidek in response to the presumed case of COVID-19 within the county, provides increased support to agencies, departments and local municipalities involved in the response to the virus. The declaration also provides council with the authority to act in the public interest with regards to scheduling public meetings and assemblies. The declaration also ensures that the county can receive financial assistance from the state and federal government if needed.
The county had a call Friday with school superintendents across the county. At this time, the Pennsylvania Health Department and CDC are not advising schools to close. The decision to close a school would be made by the individual school districts. The county has shared resources with superintendents on prevention and guidance from the state and CDC. Most schools are performing extra cleaning this weekend to ensure schools are as germ-free as possible.
County officials have limited visitors to Fair Acres, the county’s nursing home. Non-essential visitors will not be permitted into the building. Visitors who require entry will need to contact management and be screened before entering. All new admissions must be screened by the medical director prior to admission. Only essential deliveries or vendors will be allowed into the building. Fair Acres is advising that residents stay on campus. Fair Acres employees who have traveled are asked to contact the the Medical Management Department prior to returning to work. Fair Acres management is stressing to all employees and residents the need to properly wash hands with soap and water and/or use an alcohol hand sanitizer to prevent the spread of germs.
On Thursday, a woman in Delaware County tested positive for coronavirus after seeking treatment at Crozer-Chester Medical Center after she attended a conference in Boston, Massachusetts, according to state Rep. Greg Vitali, D-166 of Haverford. County officials said all demographic information about the woman was being withheld by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced the state’s first two cases of coronavirus infection, the woman in Delaware County and another individual in Wayne County. Originating in Wuhan, China, COVID-19 has infected more than 105,000 people in 90 countries and more than 3,500 have died because of it. In the United States, there are 346 cases and 14 deaths linked to coronavirus.
Taylor explained that nurses have been fanning out throughout the county to talk to residents who had been in contact with the woman who was presumed positive.
“They are conducting aggressive contact tracing to identify the individuals she may have come in contact with,” the councilwoman said. “They will quarantine when warranted and they will notify public locations when warranted.”
Taylor explained that since Delaware County doesn’t have a county health department, county officials are not privvy to demographic information about the patient in this case, that the state Health Department has that authority and is operating under the auspices of the Disease Control and Prevention Act.
If the county did have a health department, she explained, more information would be released to county officials, who would then have the decision whether they would want to release it or not.
Taylor did note that several online indications of where the woman lived were not the case.
County Councilwoman Elaine Paul Schaefer said spoke about the emergency disaster declaration.
“An emergency disaster declaration will provide increased support to agencies, departments and local municipalities involved in the response to the virus,” she explained, adding that it gives council a latitude of authority to work in the best interest of the public with regard to scheduling public meetings.
“(It) also ensures that the county can receive financial assistance from the state and the federal government if needed,” she said.
State legislators said they were estimating that Pennsylvania would receive up to $50 million of $8 billion earmarked by the federal government to combat this virus.
County Emergency Services Director Timothy Boyce explained how the disaster declaration would aid response.
“That allows us to move forward to prevent further spread of the virus,” he said. “We have a proactive plan. Department heads will meet. We will ensure that the public is safe when they come to our county buildings, that our workforce is safe.”
Should conditions change dramatically and begin to decline, Boyce explained that there is a continuity of government plan in place to maintain essential services.
However, right now, all services at the county level are status quo - and the Pennsylvania Department of Health and CDC have not given a recommendation to county schools to close. Right now, that decision rests with each of the individual school districts, whom county officials said were spending the weekend doing extra cleaning.
Boyce said that county officials were ensuring that all of our essential services – Fair Acres, the county prison, the detention centers, the 911 center and system and the courts are able to serve the public.
On Saturday, he said medical calls to the emergency call center remained at usual levels.
“Our 911 center has not seen any particular uptick in emergency calls,” Boyce said. “We average about 800 medical events a day and that has stayed constant over the last couple of weeks.”
County officials continued to stress prevention.
“The most effective way to deal with this situation is prevention,” Schaefer said, adding that many of the measures are similar to those preventing the flu, such as covering your mouth when you sneeze or cough; sneeze or cough into your elbow; wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer; clean surfaces frequently and stay home if you feel sick.
“We want to assure you that we are prepared,” she said adding that the county has been preparing since the first weeks of January and has been in daily communication with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and CDC to monitor the situation.
She urged residents to visit delcopa.gov for updated information, tips and links related to novel coronavirus. State and federal elected officials were evaluating what they could do to address the situation, too.
State Rep. Chris Quinn, R-168 of Middletown, said it was anticipated that $50 million would be directed to Pennsylvania from the federal government because of the novel coronavirus presence here and he added that the state is ready to respond as well.
“Any funds that they’re going to request from the House and Senate, anything that they need to fight this, this is not the time for partisan politics,” the state representative said. “We are going to help the governor and his team.”
Indeed, state House leadership from both parties announced their commitment to combat the spread of the virus.
“The House of Representatives continues to work with the legislature, the governor’s administration, multiple state agencies and the Centers for Disease Control (and Prevention) on statewide preparedness plans along with addressing potential impacts on our employees and our families,” a joint statement from the Republican and Democratic caucuses read. “Meetings have occurred over the last few weeks to be as prepared as possible. We are ready to work to adjust state resources as necessary to address any COVID-19-related effects.
“Our efforts to protect Pennsylvanians as much as possible will continue and we will provide legislative updates through our caucus websites and our members’ social media accounts,” it concluded.
Both U.S. senators offered their thoughts to those infected and said resources have been allocated to address the spread of the disease.
“The people of Pennsylvania wish a speedy recovery to those who have been impacted by coronavirus and we stand ready to help those families,” U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said. “(On Thursday,) Congress passed $8 billion in funding to combat the coronavirus and I will push to make sure appropriate resources are sent out to Pennsylvania quickly. I urge all Pennsylvanians to follow the instructions of their medical provider, public health professionals as well as federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., also wished a speedy recovery to those impacted and spoke of the federal funding.
“Congress has approved more than $8 billion in funding to respond to the coronavirus in the United States,” the senator said. “The administration has also taken steps to facilitate more testing. My staff and I have been working continuously to help Pennsylvania hospitals obtain from the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), (the National Institutes of Health), (the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) and the CDC all the materials they need to develop and administer tests to Pennsylvanians.”