Hospitals, ICUs ‘strained’ by surge

HARRISBURG — There were 4,268 more cases of the coronavirus reported by the state Monday as Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said intensive care units and hospitals in general “are strained throughout the state.”

Levine said the 4,405 people hospitalized Monday morning was the highest number of the pandemic. That included 914 people in intensive care and 465 on ventilators.

“We are going to be watching this data very closely. We watch all of the data, but particularly the hospitalization data, the intensive care unit data,” Levine told reporters in an online newsconference Monday.

Also Monday, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the veto of a bill passed by the General Assembly that would have given limited immunity to businesses from COVID-19-related lawsuits.

The Health Department’s newly reported cases Monday were in addition to 5,178 cases reported Sunday, bringing the total to 361,464.

Levine said intensive care units and hospitals in general “are strained throughout the state,” and that is why the state asked hospitals to collaborate within their regions on intensive care unit use and medical-surgical bed use. “We really want them to self-regulate ,” Levine said. At this point, Levine said, no region has reached a level that would trigger a mandatory cutback in elective procedures. Levine also said no new mitigation measures are anticipated at this point, and the state is monitoring the impact of recently announced measures.

There were 32 more deaths reported by the state Monday, in addition to 75 reported Sunday, bringing the total to 10,383.

Levine did not give exact figures, but noted more deaths were occurring outside of long-term care facilities than earlier in the pandemic.

“I think that is just reflective of the widespread community transmission of COVID-19 in all regions

of Pennsylvania,” Levine said.

Early in the pandemic, about 68% of deaths were tied to nursing homes or personal care facilities. As of Monday, the 6,477 deaths among nursing home and personal care home residents amounted to less than 63% of the total.

In the Lehigh Valley, 100 additional cases were reported in Lehigh County and 104 in Northampton County, with no new deaths.

The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases was 6,723 on Monday, up 5% from 6,398 a week ago.

Levine also said students between the ages of 13 and 17 would be allowed to download the state’s “COVID Alert PA” phone app, but only if they had permission from a parent or legal guardian.

Eye on schools

Levine said nearly every county in the state was at a “substantial” virus transmission level, but said school districts would continue to make final decisions on whether to use a fully remote instructional model.

Under an order issued by Levine, school districts in a substantial transmission region must sign a declaration on knowledge of COVID-19 masking and other procedures in order to continue in-person learning.

Acting Secretary of Education Noe Ortega told reporters “we continue to honor local control” but districts need to be safe.

Offering an example, Bermudian Springs School District Superintendent Shane Hot ch kiss said his district in Adams County signed the declaration and was continuing to use a hybrid approach to learning.

Hotchkiss said that among other things, his district offered “immediate” virtual support for any student who needed it.

But earlier Monday, Democratic state Sen. Andrew Dinniman of Chester County — on his last day of about 15 years in the General Assembly — repeated concerns about the long-term effects on children of remote learning.

Dinniman, who did not seek reelection, is the minority chairperson of the Senate Education Committee.

“We have students who haven’t been in a classroom since March. We have vulnerable students who are falling further and further behind,” Dinniman said. “Online learning is not working for a large number of students, especially those who are poor.”

Liability protections veto

The bill that would have given some COVID-19 law suit immunity to businesses passed both chambers of the General Assembly in split votes in recent weeks.

The final vote in the Senate was 29-20, and the final vote in the House was 104-98. In both chambers, most “yes” votes were Republicans and most “no” votes were Democrats.

Wolf said the protections were overly broad and would have undermined COVID-19 mitigation efforts and endangered public health. Beyond that, Wolf said, liability protections should be coupled with worker protections like providing paid sick leave for employees.

Tony Iannelli, CEO and president of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the veto only strengthens a sense that businesses are supporting the Wolf administration more than the administration supports them.

“Businesses right now could use a bump,” Iannelli said.

In a joint statement, leaders of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice and Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association praised the veto as giving justice ands afety for people priority over a “grotesque” effort to shield corporations, manufacturers, hospitals and nursing homes from negligence suits.

Gordon Denlinger, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said the veto showed Wolf failed to appreciate the challenges of small businesses in the pandemic, where “one frivolous lawsuit can shutter