by Justine McDaniel, Erin McCarthy and Ellie Silverman, Updated: May 15, 2020- 7:47 PM
Ten weeks after the first cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Pennsylvania, the western part of the state came out of full lockdown on Friday, and officials urged the southeastern region to stay the course — even amid warm weather — as signs pointed to strengthening progress.
Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday announced 12 more counties that can enter the state’s first or “yellow” phase of recovery on May 22, joining the 37 already there. While the southeastern region is not among those cleared, the new batch of counties, which includes York, inched closer to Philadelphia’s western suburbs.
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The counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania still have case counts above the commonwealth’s threshold of about 50 new cases per 100,000 people over 14 days, one of the benchmarks being used by state officials to determine what areas can start reopening.
However, case counts continue on a downswing in both Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, officials said Friday.
Philadelphia’s decline in new cases of COVID-19 “seems to be accelerating,” Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said Friday, adding that he still could not predict when the city will be able to reopen.
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