Butler County moved into green as state officials looked forward to the next phase in reopening the state's economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday, Gov. Tom Wolf said in a virtual briefing that 12 more counties will move from the yellow to green phase June 12. Beaver County will be one of those counties — making it the last in the southwest region to do so.

“We still have continued to see a decline in new infections,” Wolf said. “This is really good progress.”

The state saw only 443 new cases added to statewide totals. According to the state Department of Health's reports, Butler County's total number of COVID-19 cases has decreased by one to 239.

In the department's report Thursday, it listed the county's total at 240. The report can be viewed in the archives of the department's website. The county's death toll remained at 12.

Despite the declining statewide numbers, Wolf expressed concern about Erie County seeing a resurgence of the virus.

In an example of how the state may handle future resurgences, Wolf said six contact tracers will be deployed to assist Erie County.

“We need to contain it before we can move forward,” he said. “We're going to provide six contact tracers to help their health department and help mitigate the spread, so they can move forward safely and quickly.”

Contact tracers identify close contacts of a positive case immediately and make sure they do not interact with others in an effort stop further spread of the virus.

Wolf said as the state continues to see low numbers, it will shift from blanketed mitigation tactics.

“Identify, isolate and eliminate,” he said. “We've moved away from this broad-brush, blunt instrument of mitigation to these three things to target the effort to contain and get rid of this virus.”

But any movement beyond green remains uncertain, according to Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, who joined Wolf in Friday's news conference.

“We haven't determined if it'll be another color or if it will be a different phase of green,” Levine said.

She said any phase beyond green will involve further lifting restrictions on businesses, but the extent is uncertain.

“We don't intend to continue all those restrictions forever, but we're going to have to be alert and vigilant, particularly in the fall, for an increase in terms of coronavirus cases,” Levine said.

She said the department is preparing for a potential resurgence in the fall coinciding with the flu season. She noted that a flu shot will be available, but COVID-19 still has no vaccine and might still not have one by then.

In the meantime, Butler Health System officials are encouraging patients to resume seeking care.

“BHS sites are open and safe for care,” said BHS spokeswoman Jana Panther. “Don't delay care and compromise your health.”

For questions about the safety of any BHS facilities, call the BHS Care Center at 833-602-2273.

Wolf said although much is uncertain about the future, now all of the state's counties are moving toward recovery. “We don't have the plan in place yet, but that's absolutely what our attention is focused on right now,” Wolf said. “What we're working on is what does life look like.”