Butler County saw its third death due to the coronavirus, according to Friday's state data.

According to a Concordia Lutheran Ministries spokesperson, the patient who died was a resident at Concordia at the Orchard in Center Township. The assistant living facilility remains in isolation, which it started March 29.

Butler Health System spokeswoman Jana Panther confirmed the patient died at Butler Memorial Hospital.

According to the state Department of Health's Friday report, Butler's latest death coincides with six deaths in Allegheny County and 78 statewide overnight.

Thursday's report of 29 statewide deaths was an outlier when compared with an average of 70 deaths per day reported in three of the last four days. The COVID-19-related death in Butler County reported on Friday was the county's only death during this time period.

As part of the state's daily update about the coronavirus, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine addressed this spike in deaths across the state.

“I think that we are seeing an increase in the number of deaths of these patients who have been ill for awhile now and finally, tragically, have succumbed to COVID-19,” Levine said. “We do expect tragically more deaths from COVID-19.”

Levine said Pennsylvania has not yet seen its peak of the virus, and the predictions are varied. She used one example by the University of Washington that has forecasted a peak in some areas of the state to occur in the early part of next week.

“There isn't going to be one peak, and it's not going to be the same in each region,” she said. “There will be variations according to region.”

While discussing data collection with reporters, Levine also addressed multiple questions regarding the Department of Health's data collection. She said the department will not be releasing a list of nursing homes with confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19.

However, she said the department is considering revealing more detailed county-wide information but has not decided to do so at this time.

Levine also said the department currently is not tracking the number of people recovering from the virus in the same way it tracks testing and deaths.

“We are looking in a number of different ways to look at hospital discharge rates of COVID-19,” she said. “We are not able to track the many people who have recovered in their communities.”

Hospital loan programs

In addition to Levine's daily updates, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the new Hospital Emergency Loan Program, which was approved through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority.

The program will offer low-interest loans up to $10 million to hospitals in need of immediate capital funding. He said the program has set aside more than $450 million for hospitals struggling to find and buy medical supplies because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Hospital Emergency Loan Program will help ensure that every hospital can afford to get equipment essential to fighting this war without facing financial ruin,” Wolf said.

The new state program comes on the same day when federal legislators deployed $100 billion of relief funding for hospitals and health care providers nationwide.

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said state hospitals and providers will receive a $1.25 billion chunk of the overall disbursement of the Provider Relief Fund authorized by the CARES Act.

“Pennsylvania's hospitals and health care providers are leading the charge in the fight against COVID-19,” Toomey said in a news release Friday.

Wolf generally applauded the national aide, but explained why his loan program could help support hospitals in the meantime.

“The problem is that's not going to come in for a couple of weeks,” Wolf said in a news conference Friday.

As the state continues to offer new forms of assistance to hospitals statewide, Panther said BHS continues to have adequate stocks of medical supplies, but it will accept any donations of personal protective equipment. These arrangements may be made by emailing covid19donations@butlerhealthsystem.org.

The system is encouraging patients to avoid the emergency department as much as possible and use telehealth opportunities, if available.

“(Doctors) can handle many patient needs remotely, while keeping them at home,” she said.