By Anthony Colucci and Geoff Rushton
The global spread of the novel coronavirus has reached Pennsylvania.
At a news conference Friday morning, Gov. Tom Wolf said the Commonwealth now has two presumed positive cases COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
One case is an adult in Delaware County who recently traveled to a country where COVID-19 is present, while the other is adult in Wayne County who had traveled to an area of the U.S. where the disease had spread. Both patients have been quarantined in their homes.
“I emphasize the word presumed,” he said. “I’m saying presumed for a reason because the results have to be confirmed by the CDC.”
The state health department announced on Wednesday that it now has the ability to test for potential COVID-19 cases at its lab near Philadelphia and can test 25 specimens a day.
In addition to the two presumed cases, Wolf noted how five Bucks County schools have been shut down by the superintendent due to concerns that students and staff had possibly been exposed to someone who had tested positive for the virus. Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, who also spoke on Friday, said there are no confirmed cases in Bucks County.
“The emphasis of this plan is mitigation tactics to keep this virus from spreading widely,” Wolf said. “The confirmation of these presumed positive cases should serve as a reminder of the role every Pennsylvania must continue to play…we have to control the spread of this disease by what we do day in and day out.”
Wolf went on to give several basic reminders on how to protect yourself and others like washing your hands for 20 seconds, covering your nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing, not touching your face, frequently cleaning surfaces and staying home if you feel ill.
‘We anticipated this very scenario and have been preparing for Pennsylvanians to become impacted by this virus,” Wolf said. “This is not the first rapidly-spreading virus we have faced in our commonwealth and it will not be the last. We are prepared to mitigate the spread of this virus.”
Coronavirus is a family of viruses that cause usually mild upper-respiratory illnesses and are spread by coughing, sneezing and other transmission of respiratory secretions. Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. The most susceptible to severe complications are the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.
The novel coronavirus that has caused the current outbreak emerged in late 2019 in China, where the majority of the nearly 100,000 cases and 3,200 deaths attributed to COVID-19 have occurred. In the United States there have been 233 cases and 12 deaths to date.
In Centre County, governments, schools and Mount Nittany Medical Center have already been engaged in preparation and prevention efforts.
The Centre Region Infectious Hazards Planning Group has been monitoring developments and meeting regularly. School districts have notified families about prevention measures and to be ready should a widespread outbreak cause schools to close. Penn State has canceled many student programs abroad and banned university-affiliated travel to countries where the COVID-19 outbreak has been most severe.
Mount Nittany Medical Center is working with the state health department and following the most current Centers for Disease Control guidelines on COVID-19.
‘Per the CDC guidelines, Mount Nittany Health is screening all patients who feel sick with fever, cough, or difficulty breathing, and have been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19, live in or have recently traveled from an area with ongoing spread of COVID-19, or have been hospitalized with severe unexplained pneumonia,’ communications coordinator Anissa Ilie said on Monday.
Following Friday’s press conference, Wolf signed an emergency disaster declaration to provide increased support to state agencies involved in responding to COVID-19.
‘The disaster declaration is an additional way we can be prepared, so I authorized the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency director or his designee, to assume command and control of all statewide emergency operations and authorize and direct that all commonwealth departments and agencies use all available resources and personnel as is deemed necessary to cope with this emergency situation,” Wolf said.
The Department of Health also activated its Operations Center at the PEMA headquarters to conduct public health and medical coordination.
