STATE: Pennsylvania COVID-19 Statistics
per Pennsylvania Department of Health
Data updated as of 12:00pm on 5/1/2020

¹ Total case counts include confirmed and probable cases.

STATE: Cases by Age Range to Date
per Pennsylvania Department of Health
Data updated as of 12:00pm on 5/1/2020

STATE: Hospitalization Rates by Age Range to Date
per Pennsylvania Department of Health
Data updated as of 12:00pm on 5/1/2020

REGIONAL: COVID-19 cases by county to Date
per Pennsylvania Department of Health
Data updated as of 12:00pm on 5/1/2020

REGIONAL: COVID-19 Cases Associated with
Nursing Homes and Personal Care Homes to Date
per Pennsylvania Department of Health
Data updated as of 12:00pm on 5/1/2020

State Coronavirus Updates

• PennDOT Extends Expiration Dates on Driver Licenses, ID Cards, and Learner’s Permits: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today Friday May 1 that expiration dates for driver licenses, identification cards, and learner’s permits, will be extended for Pennsylvania residents in response to statewide COVID-19 mitigation efforts. Effective April 30, 2020, expiration dates for driver licenses, photo ID cards and learner’s permits scheduled to expire from March 16, 2020 through May 31, 2020, are now extended through June 30, 2020. Read more: https://dingo.telicon.com/PA/library/2020/2020050199.HTM.

Regional Coronavirus Updates

• Allegheny County Health Department
  • Of the 1,319 cases in Allegheny County, 1,272 are confirmed cases and 47 are probable cases. Additionally, there are 235 past or present hospitalizations (-1). In the ongoing review of data, it was discovered that cases were incorrectly identified as hospitalizations that were actually emergency room visits. To date, there have also been 99 deaths (+5). Of those, 89 are confirmed (had positive test) and 10 are probable. All deaths are of individuals ranging in age from 42-103, with 85 being the median age of those who have died.
• City of Pittsburgh
  • The City of Pittsburgh continues to monitor and plan for possible summertime activities, under ongoing guidance from Governor Tom Wolf’s administration during the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.  In the meantime during periods of good weather this spring, such as this coming weekend, City officials strongly urge residents to practice social distancing and wear masks when in close proximity to others to help stop the spread of disease.
  • Chief Operations Officer Kinsey Casey is leading efforts to review the safe opening — if possible — of swimming pools, spray parks, organized sports, summer camps, playing field, summer concerts and films, and basketball and tennis courts in coming weeks or months.  As of today Friday May 1 with the state’s opening of general construction activities, City personnel have begun maintenance and repair of outdoor facilities and other permitted work, such as on streets, forestry and debris cleaning.
  • Department of Mobility and Infrastructure Director Karina Ricks is reviewing plans for improving public spaces to allow for socially distanced recreation and the support of main streets.  She has created a task force with leaders from the transportation, business, mobility and design sectors to create a toolkit for neighborhood and business groups to consider the possible use of sidewalks and partial or full road closures to enhance summertime recreation spaces and to boost commerce in neighborhood business districts.
• Allegheny County
  • Vincentian Home, a short- and long-term retirement community, has repurposed a wing of its McCandless facility to treat recovering COVID-19 patients.  The home, which has not yet reported a positive case of the virus, is calling the wing the COVID-19 Isolation Unit and will house residents — and patients referred to it by local hospitals — who tested positive and provide them with continued care and recovery.
• UPMC
  • UPMC officials announced Thursday April 30 all patients treated within the health system will soon start receiving a COVID-19 antibody test. The test will identify whether a patient’s body has produced antibodies in response to COVID-19 and could help determine whether a person is immune to the virus. Antibodies are blood proteins the body produces to fight foreign substances such as viruses.
• Washington County
  • The Washington County Chamber of Commerce is appealing to Gov. Tom Wolf to allow Washington County to be included in the reopening process as soon as possible. In a letter Thursday April 30, Chamber Chairman John E. Burglund and President Jeff Kotula noted the county has been dedicated to limiting the spread and following the guidelines, which has shown up in Washington County’s relatively low number of COVID-19 cases and under one of the guidelines of fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 population. Washington County has had 115 cases overall since mid-March and two deaths, putting it well behind other counties surrounding Pittsburgh. Only Greene and Fayette counties have had fewer cases in the immediate region.

Federal Coronavirus Updates

• U.S. Department of Education
  • S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that nearly $1.4 billion in additional funding will be directed to Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), as well as institutions serving low-income students to help ensure learning continues during the coronavirus national emergency. This funding is part of the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund. Institutions may use this funding to cover the cost of technology associated with a transition to distance education, grants to cover the costs of attendance for eligible students, and faculty and staff trainings. Additionally, funds may be used to cover operational costs, such as lost revenue, reimbursements for prior expenses and payroll.

National Coronavirus Updates

• According to CNN, as of 9:45 a.m. on Friday, May 1, 2020, there are 63,023 coronavirus-related deaths and 1,070,620 total positive cases in the United States.
• Warehouse workers and grocery employees at Amazon and its subsidiary Whole Foods and gig workers for Instacart and Target-owned Shipt banded together for the protest on May Day, or International Workers Day. The workers – whose jobs have become ever more critical during the age of coronavirus quarantines and stay-at-home orders – are calling for more personal protective equipment, professional cleaning services and hazard pay from their employers. Each of those groups of workers have previously waged individual protests since March, with what companies described as little impact to operations. But Friday is the first time workers classified as essential will combine their efforts.
• Ohio has extended its stay-at-home order through May 30. The state issued a schedule for some businesses to begin reopening this month, but Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s statewide stay-at-home order for residents will not end until 11:59 p.m. May 29.  In Ohio, DeWine issued a schedule for when some businesses may resume operations. Manufacturing, construction and offices can begin reopening May 4 and retail shops can resume operations May 12. Schools, beauty and barbershops, day-care centers, gyms and entertainment venues are among the businesses that must remain closed. Taverns and restaurants can open for take-out and delivery only.
• West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice says West Virginia is moving from a stay-at-home order to a safer-at-home order, encouraging all West Virginians to remain at home but no longer orders them to stay at home.  The order goes into effect on Monday May 4.
• With the White House’s social distancing guidelines expiring Thursday April 30, leaving states largely in charge of deciding how to move forward, Anthony S. Fauci warned local leaders to avoid “leapfrogging” critical milestones in an effort to reopen their economies amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Fauci, who has repeatedly cautioned against prematurely easing restrictions, said he already noticed that some states and cities are not adhering to the steps laid out in the White House’s recently issued guidance on reopening — a plan that administration officials say will now replace the expired federal social distancing measures. But if governors rush to reopen when they aren’t ready, Fauci cautioned that the move would likely only set back the progress their states have made. Citing the guidelines, Fauci reiterated that states need to report a steady decrease in coronavirus cases within a 14-day period in addition to meeting other requirements before even thinking about moving on to the first phase of reopening.
• Publicly traded companies have received more than $1 billion in funds meant for small businesses from the federal government’s economic stimulus package, according to data from securities filings compiled by The Washington Post. Nearly 300 public companies have reported receiving money from the fund, called the Paycheck Protection Program, according to the data compiled by The Post. Recipients include 43 companies with more than 500 workers, the maximum typically allowed by the program. Several other recipients were prosperous enough to pay executives $2 million or more. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has defended the program as a success, saying three-quarters of the loans were for totals of under $150,000. But after the first batch of loans was issued, the administration also scrambled to release new guidance for the program to discourage large public companies from applying.