As Butler County adds two positive cases to its COVID-19 total, which now stands at 222, Butler Health System becomes almost fully operational.

“BHS is essentially 100 percent open for business, with appropriate safety measures in place,” said BHS spokeswoman Jana Panther.

Butler County's COVID-19 numbers continue to be important to people eyeing the reopening of the rest of businesses in the county.

In a news conference Tuesday, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said the state Department of Health would be putting less emphasis on the 50 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population metric that gauged the virus's impact on a county over a two-week period.

She said one parameter a county will have to meet to go from the yellow to green phase will be a continued decline in new cases over at least a two-week period, due to COVID-19's longest known gestation time frame.

Butler County was moved to the yellow phase May 15.

From May 1 to May 15, Butler County saw 22 new cases; since then there has been an increase of 20 new cases. The number of new cases Thursday and Friday will also factor into the state's decision about whether or not the county moves from yellow to green.

However, Levine has also said the department and Gov. Tom Wolf will base their decision to move counties from yellow to green phases based on multiple models, projections and metrics.

Wolf is expected to announce further counties moving from one phase to another on Friday.

The following numbers on the coronavirus pandemic were compiled from the regular news releases from the state Department of Health figures.

Make sure to pick up Thursday's Butler Eagle to read the full story.

Wednesday's COVID-19 statistics:

Confirmed cases: 222Negative tests: 3,541Deaths: 12

New cases: 780Total cases: 69,417New deaths: 113Total deaths: 5,265Negative tests: 349,990Recovered: 62 %

Inpatients: 7Suspected: 5Confirmed: 2ICU: 1Total tests: 4,641Outdoor tests: 2,556Positive tests: 238

Inpatients: 2Suspected: 2Confirmed: 0ICU: 0Total tests: 949Outdoor tests: 684Positive tests: 32

Allegheny: 1,828 confirmed cases; 28,168 negative; and 160 deathsArmstrong: 61 confirmed; 1,118 negative; and 4 deathsBeaver: 570 confirmed; 3,450 negative; and 72 deathsClarion: 25 confirmed; 663 negative; and 2 deathsLawrence: 74 confirmed; 1,208 negative; and 8 deathsMercer: 106 confirmed; 1,478 negative; and 4 deathsVenango: 8 confirmed and 484 negativeWestmoreland: 442 confirmed; 8,5718 negative; and 38 deaths<b>The total number of cases includes confirmed and probable cases.The total deaths and new deaths include only confirmed deaths, which is a person who tested positive for the virus before their death.Individuals who have recovered is determined using a calculation. If a case has not been reported as a death, and it is more than 30 days past the date of their first positive test (or onset of symptoms) then an individual is considered recovered.</b>