Health officials urge caution as Friday nears
As the county moves closer to reopening, local health officials echoed the sentiment that the pandemic is not over.
“Green does not mean green,” said Butler Health System spokeswoman Jana Panther. “At least not in the sense that everything is now a 'go,' and back to normal.”
Clarion County was moved last Friday to the green phase of Gov. Tom Wolf's reopening plan. Butler County will move to green Friday.
According to the state Department of Health's Wednesday report, Butler County added three cases of COVID-19 to its total of 235. The county's death toll remains at 12.
Panther said although the hospital will resume operating close to 100 percent, there still will be new protocols in place to keep people from getting sick.
“Safety precautions still apply, and they will continue,” Panther said.
In her virtual briefing Wednesday, state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine echoed this sentiment.
“COVID-19 is not behind us. We still have COVID-19 in Pennsylvania,” Levine said. “That's why I say stay alert now every day.”
Levine said the state has been seeing positive downward trends in new cases over the past few weeks. She said contact tracing and testing continue to improve each day.
She announced Wednesday the first of multiple consortiums that will focus on meeting contact tracing needs regionally.
The Southwest PA COVID-19 Contact Tracing Consortium is a collaboration with the state Department of Health and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, headquartered in Pittsburgh. The consortium boasts more than 50 members, representing diverse partnerships, including health agencies, colleges and county governments, among many others.
“This consortium is the first of many regional groups across the state that will help assess the number of contact tracers needed in each area, help recruit and train them and coordinate informational data to ensure consistency,” Levine said.
Levine said as the state continues to strengthen itself against COVID-19, it will also be wary of a potential second wave of the virus. She said little is known about the second wave because this is the first year they've experienced the virus and its tendencies.
“We don't know what that's going to look like. We don't know when that will occur,” Levine said. “Coronavirus is not influenza. We need to be ready.”
