COVID-19 Cases by Geography to Date
per Pennsylvania Department of Health
Data updated as of 12:00pm on 7/20/2020

¹ Total case counts include confirmed and probable cases.
² Negative case data only includes negative PCR tests. Negative case data does not include negative antibody tests.
Case data from PA-NEDSS.  Death data is a combination of PA-NEDSS and EDRS

COVID-19 Tests to Date and Cases per 100K
per Pennsylvania Department of Health
Data updated as of 12:00pm on 7/20/2020

¹ Tested per 100,000 residents represents the cumulative sum of tests within the specified geography
² Cases per 100K represents the 14 day sum of new cases per 100,000 residents

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 7/20/2020

State Coronavirus Updates

• Gov. Wolf: Congress Must Take Action to Help Restaurants: Governor Tom Wolf urged Congress to quickly provide financial relief to the nation’s restaurants by passing the Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed to Survive (RESTAURANTS) Act. The bipartisan bill in Congress provides $120 billion to help independent restaurants with the economic challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more: https://dingo.telicon.com/PA/library/2020/2020071786.HTM
• Dashboard Data Shows Weekly Case Increases Statewide, Multiple Counties with High Percent-Positives: Governor Tom Wolf released a weekly status update detailing the state’s mitigation efforts based on the COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard comparing the seven-day period of July 10 – July 16 to the previous seven days, July 3 – July 9. Read more: https://dingo.telicon.com/PA/library/2020/2020071772.HTM
• State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement Continues Checks, Issues 44 Warnings for COVID-19 Compliance: Pennsylvania State Police Liquor Control Enforcement Officers visited 1,524 licensed liquor establishments from Friday, July 17 through Sunday, July 19 as part of its regular work to ensure businesses are abiding by COVID-19 mitigation requirements that include social distancing, masking, and other health and safety requirements of the liquor code. Read more: https://dingo.telicon.com/PA/library/2020/2020072079.HTM
• Human Services Provides Update on SNAP Online Grocery Purchasing, Encourages Retailers to Join: Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Teresa Miller reminded Pennsylvanians of the ability to use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds to purchase groceries online through select retailers. This flexibility allows SNAP recipients to purchase groceries from home, which can help limit trips out of the home as Pennsylvania sees rising cases of COVD-19. Last month, DHS launched the pilot program overseen by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that allows SNAP recipients to purchase groceries online through participating retailers approved by the USDA. Read more: https://dingo.telicon.com/PA/library/2020/2020072080.HTM
• National Health Policy Leaders Endorse Gov. Wolf’s ‘Bold’ Action to Stop Another COVID Surge in PA: National health policy leaders today endorsed Governor Tom Wolf’s most recent mitigation efforts to stop another surge of COVID-19 cases in the commonwealth, reminding all Pennsylvanians that by taking these measures now we can stop further spread and end mitigation efforts sooner. “In this pandemic, it is imperative to take bold action before cases rise exponentially—to get ahead of the curve,” said Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., former special advisor for health policy to President Obama, and vice provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania. “Gov. Wolf is doing just that. We need to ensure physical distancing, the wearing of face masks, and limiting indoor activities. Gov. Wolf’s actions to implement these measures will save lives and allow continued reopening of the economy in a safe and smart way.” Read more: https://dingo.telicon.com/PA/library/2020/2020072083.HTM

Regional Coronavirus Updates

• Allegheny County Department of Health
  • There are 512 past or present hospitalizations (+4). In the newest cases (tested July 3 through July 19), ages range from 2 to 97 years with the median age being 42.

Federal Coronavirus Updates

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Considerations for Restaurants and Bars: As restaurants and bars resume operations in some areas of the United States, CDC offers the following considerations for ways in which operators can protect employees, customers, and communities and slow the spread of COVID-19. Read more: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/business-employers/bars-restaurants.html
  • Strategies to Mitigate Healthcare Personnel Staffing Shortages: Maintaining appropriate staffing in healthcare facilities is essential to providing a safe work environment for healthcare personnel (HCP) and safe patient care. As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, staffing shortages will likely occur due to HCP exposures, illness, or need to care for family members at home. Healthcare facilities must be prepared for potential staffing shortages and have plans and processes in place to mitigate these, including communicating with HCP about actions the facility is taking to address shortages and maintain patient and HCP safety and providing resources to assist HCP with anxiety and stress. Read more: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/mitigating-staff-shortages.html
  • Evidence used to update the list of underlying medical conditions that increase a person’s risk of severe illness from COVID-19: Updates to the list of underlying medical conditions that put individuals at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 were based on published reports, articles in press, unreviewed pre-prints, and internal data available between December 1, 2019 and May 29, 2020. This list is a living document that will be periodically updated by CDC, and it could rapidly change as the science evolves.Severe illness from COVID-19 was defined as hospitalization, admission to the ICU, intubation or mechanical ventilation, or death. Read more: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/evidence-table.html
• Food and Drug Administration
  • FDA Issues First Emergency Authorization for Sample Pooling in Diagnostic Testing: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reissued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Quest Diagnostics to authorize its Quest SARS-CoV-2 rRT-PCR test for use with pooled samples containing up to four individual swab specimens collected under observation. The Quest test is the first COVID-19 diagnostic test to be authorized for use with pooled samples. Read more: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-issues-first-emergency-authorization-sample-pooling-diagnostic

National Coronavirus Updates

• According to CNN, as of 3:00pm on Monday, July 20, 2020, there are 140,787 coronavirus-related deaths and 3,800,442 total positive cases in the United States.
• Global Coronavirus Deaths Surpass 600,000, With U.S. Accounting For Nearly A Quarter: Total coronavirus deaths in the U.S. have surpassed 140,000, reaching somber new heights as surging cases continue to break records in parts of the country and around the world. Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/19/892817304/global-coronavirus-deaths-surpass-600-000-with-u-s-accounting-for-nearly-a-quart
• Economist: U.S. Workers, Economy Will Suffer With End Of Federal Pandemic Benefits:  Millions of American workers have been receiving $600 from the federal government each week during the pandemic in the form of unemployment assistance. But that’s set to expire by the end of the month, leaving many in a high state of anxiety. Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/17/892393058/how-will-the-expiration-of-federal-unemployment-benefits-affect-u-s-economy
• Promising results reported for two coronavirus vaccines: Two front-runners in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine reported encouraging results from clinical trials on Monday July 20, including one candidate that’s received more than $1 billion from the U.S. government. Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/20/british-vaccine-immune-response-human-study-372750