Residents of northcentral and northwestern Pennsylvania are projected to be the first in the state to be released from Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order, and many retail stores in those areas should be able to reopen under a statewide plan released Wednesday night.

Wolf wants to begin easing some pandemic restrictions on May 8 in areas of Pennsylvania that have been lightly impacted by the coronavirus.

His reopening plan sets a target of fewer than 50 positive cases of the virus per 100,000 residents for 14 days. Many counties in rural Pennsylvania have reported just a few cases total, though the hardest-hit counties have reported hundreds of virus cases per 100,000 residents. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the 50-case metric would apply uniformly to all areas of the state.

The Associated Press obtained Wolf’s reopening plan ahead of his news conference Wednesday night.

The virus has infected more than 35,000 people in Pennsylvania and killed more than 1,600, but Wolf, a Democrat, says the state has made sufficient progress in its fight against COVID-19 to begin a gradual loosening of restrictions. Republicans are pressing for a more aggressive timetable.

As the virus begins to ebb, and each county or region meets the state’s case reporting threshold, residents will be permitted to leave their homes and in-person retail will be allowed to resume, according to Wolf’s plan. But a ban on large gatherings will remain, and gyms, casinos, theaters and other indoor recreational, wellness and entertainment venues will stay closed, according to the plan, which lays out a phased, color-coded reopening roadmap.

Right now, all of Pennsylvania is at “red,” the plan said, meaning that all 12.8 million residents are under orders to stay home and all nonessential businesses are closed. Regions and counties will move from red to yellow, and then, eventually, to green, meaning that all pandemic restrictions are lifted, the plan said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health will partially rely on metrics and a data tool developed by Carnegie Mellon University to put its reopening plan into motion.

Also Wednesday, the Wolf administration announced it is encouraging voters to cast their primary election ballots by mail, saying it would help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but faced legal action Wednesday by a liberal group demanding greater protections against disenfranchisement.

The Wolf administration has sent 4.2 million postcards to primary voters and is mounting a vote-by-mail awareness campaign on radio, television, social media, streaming services, mobile apps and email, officials said Wednesday.

The state’s efforts to get voters to apply for a mail-in ballot or absentee ballot have gained traction, with more than 462,000 voters applying for a mail-in ballot and more than 139,000 applying for an absentee ballot, according to Wolf administration figures.

Republican and Democratic party officials in Pennsylvania have encouraged people to vote by mail amid concerns the virus will make it difficult for county officials to find polling places and get poll workers to staff them. Election officials in various counties say they probably will be forced to operate far fewer polling places than normal.