County gets green light
Montco prepares for June 26 opening of bars, gyms, salons
After months of stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns due to the coronavirus outbreak, officials in Montgomery, Chester and Berks counties received the go-ahead to move to the next least restrictive “green phase” of the governor’s reopen
ing plan on June 26.
The three counties were among the dozen that Gov. Tom Wolf gave the green light to on Friday. The other counties included Bucks, Delaware, Erie, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Northampton, Philadelphia and Susquehanna.
“It’s a testament to the many residents and businesses that have sacrificed over the past three months to stay home and adhere to the guidance the state has provided to protect lives and livelihoods,” Wolf said on Friday. “As we begin to reopen, I urge everyone to stay alert and continue to follow social distancing to maintain the momentum of mitigation we have in place.”
The move to green was anticipated by Montgomery County officials.
“Our numbers are really in a solid place. We have contact tracing very much up and running. We can trace up to 100 people a day if we need to at this point. We have capacity in our hospitals,” Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh said on Thursday. “I’m comfortable with Montgomery County going to green in a week.”
However, Arkoosh said precautions still must be taken even in the green phase.
“Green is not go back to normal. Green is go forward to our new normal,” Arkoosh said.
In the green phase, large gatherings of more than 250 are still prohibited and masks are required when entering a business. Restaurants and bars can reopen at 50 percent occupancy and hair salons and barbershops can open at 50 percent occupancy and by appointment only, according to the guidelines.
Indoor recreation and health and wellness facilities such as gyms and spas can open at 50 percent occupancy with appointments strongly encouraged, according to green phase regulations.
Entertainment venues such as casinos, theaters, and shopping malls can open at 50 percent occupancy.
Work and crowd restrictions include:
• Continued telework strongly encouraged
• Businesses with in-person operations must follow updated business and building safety requirements • Businesses operating at 50% occupancy in the yellow phase may increase to 75% occupancy
• Child care may open complying with guidance
• Congregate care restrictions in place
• Prison and hospital restrictions determined by individual facilities
• Schools subject to CDC and social distancing guidance
Arkoosh stressed “a slow phased-in” approach is recommended for people going back to work during the green phase.
“Even here at the county we’re not going to have everybody in the office when we go to green. That means you don’t necessarily have an office full of people, that people are working some from home and some from the office and that we do that in a phased way,” Arkoosh explained.
“I think as long as we encourage just a continued slow, reopening we can keep everybody in our region safe,” Arkoosh said.
Arkoosh reported that the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 continue to decrease in the county. On Thursday, officials reported 100 hospitalized coronavirus patients in the county’s nine hospitals, which is a sharp decrease from the more than 400 hospitalizations recorded at the peak of the outbreak in April.
“We are holding steady,” Arkoosh said.
Additionally, the average number of new positive cases over seven days appears to be on the decline. For example, on June 6, the seven-day average of total cases was 43.3 while on June 13 the seven-day average declined to 31.9, according to county data.
“So we are really pleased to see the decrease in these numbers,” Arkoosh said.
Arkoosh has said the county has infrastructure in place to watch for surges in positive cases, or “hotspots,” monitor how much hospital space is available and measure testing and contact tracing capabilities in the county.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, officials reported 25 new positive cases of the coronavirus and two more deaths.
The 25 new positive cases brought the county’s total number of cases to 7,917 since March 7 when the first two cases of the virus were identified in the county. Five of the new cases involved residents of long-term care facilities and the remaining 20 were other members of the community.
The latest individuals to test positive included 13 females and 12 males who ranged in age from 11 to 96 and they resided in 16 municipalities, officials reported.
The latest two deaths, men who were 63 and 74, brought the COVID-19 death toll in the county to 780. To date, 410 females and 370 males have died from the virus.
The 780 total deaths were “confirmed positive” COVID-19 cases through the use of lab tests.
On Thursday, officials said 88 other deaths in the county have been listed as “probable” COVID-19 deaths. Those are deaths that list COVID-19 as a cause of death on a death certificate but in which there was no laboratory confirmation of the virus.
Testing for anyone who needs or wants to be tested continues to be available at the county’s community-based testing sites in Pottstown, Norristown and Whitpain.
A walk-up testing site is available at the county’s Office of Public Health Pottstown Health Center at 364 King St. Testing is available Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. by appointment only. To make an appointment, residents should call 610-970-2937 beginning at 8:30 a.m. daily.
A walk-up communitybased testing site also is located on the parking lot of the Delaware Valley Community Health Norristown Regional Health Center, 1401 DeKalb St., in Norristown. Testing is provided by appointment only from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Monday through Friday and is open to Norristown residents and all established patients of the Delaware Valley Community Health Center regardless of where they reside. Residents can register for testing by calling 610-592-0680 starting at 8:30 a.m. daily.
A drive-thru testing site at the central campus of the Montgomery County Community College in Whitpain will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. as testing supplies allow. Registration for each day’s appointments will open at 8 a.m. daily and will remain open until all available spots are filled. Individuals can register online at www.montcopa.org/COVID-19 or can call 610-631-3000 to register for a testing appointment.