Coronavirus Pennsylvania: Statewide Total Tops 14,500, Philadelphia Cases Over 4,200 As City To Draw Up New Budget, Five-Year Plan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) -- The number of coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania now tops 14,500 as Philadelphia's total stands over 4,200. The city will also be submitting a new budget and five-year plan due to the pandemic.
Health officials reported Tuesday 1,579 new cases in the commonwealth, bringing the statewide total to 14,819.
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Pennsylvania officials say 78 more people died from the coronavirus, raising the death toll to 240.
"Now more than ever, as we continue to see COVID-19 cases and deaths rise in Pennsylvania, we need Pennsylvanians to take action," Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said. "Those actions should be to stay calm, stay home and stay safe. If you must go out, please limit it to as few trips as possible and wear a mask to protect not only yourself but other people as well. We need all Pennsylvanians to heed these efforts to protect our vulnerable Pennsylvanians, and our healthcare workers and frontline responders."
Over 76,700 patients have tested negative for the virus.
In Philadelphia, Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley reported 544 more COVID-19 cases, bringing the city's total to 4,272. Twenty more people died from the virus, as the death toll now stands at 65.
Farley says they are continuing to see clusters where people live together, including in nursing homes and jails.
Farley also added that he is hopeful in seeing a plateau soon.
During Tuesday's city briefing, Mayor Jim Kenney said they are going back to the drawing board to create a new budget and five-year plan due to the pandemic. Kenney says the city will see an increase in expenditures and a decrease in tax revenue, which will lead to difficult decisions.
"This will impact city services and employees. To what degree, we don't know yet," Kenney said.
Kenney says the new budget and five-year plan will be presented to Philadelphia City Council by May 1.
Meanwhile, state prison inmates have so far manufactured more than 180,000 cloth masks for use by Corrections Department staff and the prisoners themselves.
The prison system said Tuesday that its garment factories began converting to mask production on March 17. Each employee has received three masks, each prisoner two.
The prison system's manufacturing arm, Pennsylvania Correctional Industries, is also making gowns, anti-bacterial soap and disinfectant, the department said.
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