Pennsylvania added 533 coronavirus cases Saturday and 12 deaths, including one in Lehigh and one in Northampton counties.
The 24% increase in cases brought the statewide total to 2,751 in 56 of the 67 counties. Thirty-four people have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, including seven in the Lehigh Valley.
Lehigh County Coroner Eric D. Minnich said the latest Lehigh County victim was a 63-year-old man from Heidelberg Township, who died at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem.
Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek did not release information about the death there.
Meanwhile Gov. Tom Wolf said he has extended the stay-at-home order to three counties, — Beaver, Centre and Washington — bringing the total to 22, including Lehigh and Northampton counties.
“We need to control the spread to help our hospital’s fight,” Wolf said during a news conference Saturday, adding that each person who becomes infected typically spreads it to three more people.
Wolf pointed out that New York and New Jersey have become the hotbed of COVID-19 cases. Asked if he is considering restricting travel to and from those states, the governor said no. But also on Saturday, President Trump told reporters he was considering an order that would prevent people in New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut from traveling, an action the New York governor said might not be legally enforceable.
To bolster Pennsylvania’s health care system, Wolf said some licensing requirements have been relaxed to allow more medical professionals to assist patients not suffering from COVID-19, which will free up others to concentrate on virus cases. He said the state has received 119 applications to reactivate the licenses of medical professionals, including retired doctors, who want to help with the effort.
“We need all the hands we can get,” Wolf said.
Both Wolf and Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said most residents are obeying orders to stay home and practicing social distancing on essential trips.
“I know it’s not easy,” Levine said, “but it’s truly our most important job right now.”
There are 203 positive cases in the Lehigh Valley, up 18% from Friday, with 109 of those in Lehigh County and 94 in Northampton.
In the region, today’s totals:
Lehigh: 109 Saturday, 93 Friday, 17% increase.
Northampton: 94 Saturday, 79 Friday, 19% increase.
Bucks: 152 Saturday, 124 Friday, 23% increase.
Carbon: 3 Saturday, 2 Friday.
Monroe: 106 Saturday, 98 Friday, 8% increase.
Montgomery: 411 Saturday, 374 Friday, 10% increase.
Schuylkill: 16 Saturday, 13 Friday, 23% increase.
Berks County, with 65 cases, was unchanged from Friday, after two consecutive days when Berks had the largest one-day percentage increase among counties with 10 or more cases.
“I am very surprised that it stayed steady at 65,” county commissioners Chairman Christian Y. Leinbach said Saturday. “What we don’t know is, was there a lull in testing?”
Other counties with significant increases include: Philadelphia, which now has 709 cases; Delaware, which has 226; Allegheny, which has 219; Chester, which has 116; and Luzerne, which has 65.
In addition to the Lehigh Valley deaths, three people died in Philadelphia; two in Montgomery County; and one each in Butler, Delaware, Cumberland, Lancaster and Pike counties.
Levine said 25,254 people have tested negative for the coronavirus, which was first diagnosed in China in December. On March 11, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, as coronavirus cases spread across the globe.
As of Saturday, the virus had infected more than 640,000 worldwide, with more than 105,000 cases in the U.S., and caused more than 29,000 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University website. More than 1,300 deaths have been reported in the U.S.
Johns Hopkins says more than 136,000 people worldwide have recuperated, though those numbers likely are much larger, as many places, including Pennsylvania, don’t track recoveries.
Levine said public heath scientists believe recovery rates will not be clear until the outbreak ends and experts can examine the data. She also said it was too early to draw conclusions on whether the outbreak is slowing down in the state.
Wolf has issued stay-at-home orders for the Lehigh Valley and elsewhere, with all schools and non-life-sustaining businesses ordered to remain closed until at least April 6. Those orders mean residents should only go out for essential trips, such as to the grocery store or pharmacy, or for work at life-sustaining businesses.
Shutdowns here and across the country have taken a toll on the economy, leaving many people out of work. Congress responded by passing a $2 trillion stimulus package, aimed in part at helping individuals and small business owners.
Wolf said state officials are trying to figure out the next steps and Pennsylvania’s exact share of the package.
“There are a lot of different buckets,” he said. “We believe in different formats, states and local governments will get somewhere around $5 billion, but allocations have yet to be known to us in Harrisburg.”
He said the state is offering low-interest loans to businesses and increasing unemployment compensation as well as expanding Medicaid.
On Friday, Wolf signed legislation authorizing $50 million for the state health care system, enabling hospitals to buy more medical equipment and supplies.
Morning Call reporter Ford Turner and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone can be reached at 610-820-6694 or asalamone@mcall.com.
