Megan Guza stories, Page 41

Westmoreland County recorded five more cases of the coronavirus Thursday as deaths stayed steady at 30, according to state and county data. The new cases bring the countywide total to 391, according to numbers from the state Department of Health. The new cases were reported throughout the day Wednesday. The...

Critics of coronavirus-related shutdowns have pointed to Sweden’s path toward “herd immunity” as justification for advocating an end to stay-at-home orders, even as some infectious disease experts warn the Swedes’ methods could be deadly. Building herd immunity has gained popularity in some circles as an alternative to widespread shutdowns and...

The state Department of Health on Thursday reported almost 100 new coronavirus deaths along with almost 1,400 new positive cases of the virus. The 97 deaths recorded Wednesday bring the statewide death toll to 2,292, according to state data. The 1,397 new cases, reported during the same time frame, bring...

A day before state officials were set to announce what parts of Pennsylvania could see coronavirus restrictions eased, Gov. Tom Wolf said his administration hadn’t yet decided which areas will be included. “We haven’t even made the list up yet,” Wolf told reporters when asked what Pennsylvanians can expect from...

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald on Wednesday shrugged off the idea of mass testing at the county jail, where at least two dozen inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus. About 1,100 inmates have been released since mid-March, the result of growing fears of covid-19 spreading in congregate settings such...

Westmoreland County added just three more coronavirus cases on Wednesday as an update in the state’s death numbers brought their total more in line with the county coroner’s number. The county now has 386 covid-19 cases with 30 deaths. The state as a whole added 479 covid-19 deaths, though Secretary...

As the first Pennsylvania regions inch toward a May 8 lift of restrictions, the state’s coronavirus death toll pushed past 2,000 on Wednesday and officials warned that moving to the “yellow phase” will not mean a return to normal. The 479 new deaths reported come from the Department of Health’s...

State health officials reported nearly 500 new coronavirus deaths across Pennsylvania on Wednesday, pushing the death toll above 2,000 as officials cautioned that those deaths are from over the course of two weeks, not one day. The jump to 2,195 deaths — an increase of 479 — is part of...

A class-action lawsuit alleges that lack of oversight by the state Department of Health allowed Brighton Rehabilitation in Beaver County to perform drug experiments on patients under the guise of clinical trials to prevent coronavirus. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, alleges that the department has scaled down...

The coronavirus pandemic could delay freedom for prison inmates scheduled for clemency hearings in June as uncertainty continues over when restrictions will be lifted and how hearings can be held within social-distancing guidelines. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman said in a call with reporters Tuesday that “dozens” of inmates were set...

Westmoreland County added six more coronavirus cases on Tuesday as the county’s total inched toward 400 cases. The 383 Westmoreland cases are among the now 43,264 covid-19 cases diagnosed across the state since the first cases were reported March 6. Westmoreland County saw its first case April 5. Since then,...

The state’s top health official said Tuesday she believes Pennsylvania has passed its coronavirus peak but cautioned that outbreaks and surges remain possible. Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said the data and trends point toward the state being past the highest point for new cases and deaths, but she...

A 10th resident has died from the coronavirus at the Kane Regional nursing home in Glen Hazel, according to data from Allegheny County. Of 96 residents tested for covid-19 at the county-owned long-term care facility, 62 have tested positive for the virus. Seven residents have been hospitalized, and 22 have...

Golf courses, marinas and some campgrounds will be permitted to open Friday as Pennsylvania officials move toward a gradual reopening of a state economy halted by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to private campgrounds, guided fishing trips will be allowed to resume Friday. All of those businesses must follow life-sustaining...

Hospitals and surgical centers in Pennsylvania can resume elective procedures that have been halted for weeks by the coronavirus pandemic. State Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said Monday such surgeries and procedures may begin again as long as hospitals still would be ready for a potential surge in covid-19 cases....

Health care systems still aren’t providing crucial race and ethnicity data when reporting coronavirus cases to the Department of Health, leaving a wide swath of some vulnerable populations unaccounted for, officials said Monday. A mandate from Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine says facilities and providers include demographic data along...

Dozens of new coronavirus deaths in Pennsylvania have pushed the statewide death toll to nearly 1,600 and hundreds more people tested positive, according to state health officials. The 47 new deaths reported to the Department of Health throughout the day Sunday brought the confirmed total to 1,597. Another 885 people...

Pennsylvania’s top health official on Friday warned that no one, under any circumstance, should ingest or inject disinfectants of any kind. “I can say that any type of ingesting or injecting a (disinfectant) would be extremely dangerous — extremely dangerous,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said during a media...

Resources are available for people having trouble coping or experiencing a mental health crisis spurred by the coronavirus pandemic and the isolation it has wrought. Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday reiterated a list of resources available. The mitigation efforts to combat the coronavirus are necessary for public health, he said,...

Construction crews must wear masks and have hand-washing stations at sites when workers return to work next week, according to guidelines laid out by Gov. Tom Wolf. Wolf shut down most construction projects when he ordered non-life-sustaining businesses closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. As part of a plan to...

State health officials on Friday reported 71 more coronavirus deaths and nearly 1,600 new cases of the virus as Pennsylvania marked seven weeks since seeing its first case. There are now 1,492 confirmed deaths across the state. Confirmed deaths are those in which the deceased previously tested positive for covid-19....

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday laid out a color-coded phased plan for reopening the state region by region. Some regions — the Northwestern and Northcentral parts of the state, most likely — will start moving into a phase of fewer restrictions beginning May 8. The state is currently in...

For all the criteria and data-driven guidelines Gov. Tom Wolf has laid out for reopening a locked-down Pennsylvania, the decision-making process will not be guided entirely by the data, the governor said Thursday. The objective criteria are “not a hard and fast rule,” Wolf said during a call with reporters....

Pennsylvania added more 1,300 coronavirus cases, state health officials said Thursday, pushing the statewide total past 37,000. The 1,369 new positive cases were recorded between 12 a.m. Wednesday and 12 a.m. Thursday. The state’s running case count now stands at 37,053. The Department of Health had begun providing the number...