Butler County will not be in the first wave of reopening.

The state will open Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango and Warren counties.

“We selected these counties, in part, because they have low per capita case counts,” said Gov. Tom Wolf, during a news conference Friday.

The 24 counties, including four of Butler County's neighbors, will shift from the red to yellow designation May 8 in Wolf's color-coded reopening procedure.

Shifting to the yellow phase would allow more businesses to reopen and partially lift the stay-at-home order, allowing residents to move about more freely.

But both Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine warned a county could be returned to “red,” if they see a surge or further outbreak of the virus.

“They must abide by the underlying message of yellow. Proceed with caution,” Wolf said. “The yellow phase recognizes that outbreaks of COVID-19 are still possible.”

Statistics

Wolf said his administration already shifted its focus on helping counties move from yellow to green, but will watch other regions and the remaining 43 counties carefully to determine when those areas can move from red to yellow, pointing out how some counties are closer than others.

“We're already looking at other counties to move from red to yellow categories, in particular we have our eyes on the counties in the southwest and a few in the south central that have lower new case rates,” Wolf said.

According to data reported by the state Department of Health, Butler County has had 180 residents test positive for the virus and six deaths as of Friday. The 2010 U.S. Census estimated the county's population at 187,900 residents.

This means roughly 0.096 percent of the county's residents — less than one-tenth of one percent — tested positive for the virus as of Friday afternoon. The percentage of county residents who died from COVID-19 compared to overall population stands at 0.003 percent. Comparatively, Lawrence County had the highest threshold of COVID-19 cases and deaths among the four neighboring counties moving to yellow, with 0.076 percent of its population of roughly 85,500 testing positive for the virus and 0.007 percent who died.

Levine said the decision to move some counties from red to yellow, regardless of region, was made considering more than the one key metric that has been highly publicized. The benchmark widely discussed by state officials has been looking for less than 50 cases per 100,000 residents.

Levine said the state's ability to perform contact tracing and widespread testing in a county or region will also factor into reopening decisions, as will other metrics deemed necessary by state epidemiologists.

“The governor had said all along that we were sort of looking in regions, but we were also looking particularly at the counties,” Levine said. “We made recommendations and then the governor made the final decision on which would go from red to yellow.”

Butler Health System

While Butler County was not included in the first wave, a panel of doctors from Butler Health System conducted a Zoom meeting with local business owners to inform them of the latest information they've received and to give them its perspective on best practices and precautions they should consider as they look to reopen in the coming weeks.

BHS decided Wednesday night and announced Thursday they would be resuming elective services, including some surgeries and procedures beginning Monday.

Ken DeFurio, BHS CEO and president, said he wanted to reach out to businesses to give them a sense of direction and answer any questions they might have.

“We thought the timing was right to get back together and update you on how we're thinking about this virus in the community,” DeFurio said.

Key among the panel of doctors involved was Dr. John Love, medical director of infectious diseases for BHS, who reviewed information about the coronavirus impact, statics and testing availability.

“We're not done and this is not going to go away any time soon,” Love said.

Dr. Elliot Smith, chief clinical officer and vice president of the BHS Ambulatory Network, offered businesses advice on what to expect when the county moves to yellow. Many guidelines discussed Friday either mirrored or elaborated on guidance distributed by the state Department of Health— including wearing masks at all times and allowing telework when possible.

Smith said physical distancing, as social distancing is now being called, will continue to be a key for prevention. He said this includes allowing six feet between both employees, customers and one another.

“That includes sitting around at your lunch break,” Smith said. “You can't eat through your mask, so you should try to sit six feet away from someone else who is eating.”

Smith said employers should also hesitate to rely on just testing the temperature of anyone walking in their door. He said while fever is a common symptom, it is not always a symptom, and employers should check in with employees especially on an individual basis about their health.

“It's not just a cough. It's not just shortness of breath,” Smith said. “Any illness should be seeking attention.”

Protocols for people returning to work were also discussed.

Dr. David Rottinghaus, chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs, said the standard they would recommend is the same standard they use at BHS: People should be out of work for at least 10 days and be symptom free for 72 hours.

An example used was that if someone was on day nine of their leave from work, and they still exhibited symptoms, then their leave would be contingent on them being symptom-free for 72 hours, which could push them into 12 days or more.