HARRISBURG — Montour, Northumberland, and Lycoming counties were among 24 counties that Gov. Tom Wolf announced on Friday could move to the first phase of reopening beginning on May 8.
In the "yellow" phase, businesses will be allowed to open up, but will have to abide by safety guidelines. The stay-at-home orders on the public will be lifted.
In-person retail will be allowed, although curbside and delivery is preferred, the state said.
BLOOMSBURG — Columbia County didn’t make the cut.
Gov. Tom Wolf is expected to announce today the easing of shutdown restrictions on a number of counties where COVID-19 infection rates are low.
But Columbia County, which includes both Berwick and Bloomsburg, won’t be on that list, say the county’s commissioners.
MONTOUR TWP. — Children setting tires ablaze led to a garage fire on Legion Road here Thursday, the police chief said.
The large garage behind 158 Legion Road had a pile of tires stored underneath its eaves , where the fire appeared to begin, said Police Chief Terry Eckart.
It spread throughout the garage, destroying the Harley Davidson motorcycle and antique car parts inside the structure, said Greg Creasy, son of owner Denny Creasy. A car parked underneath a garage overhang was torched as well.
DANVILLE — Geisinger is rolling out a new program this week aimed at tracing coronavirus patients and their close contacts in an effort to slow the spread of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly virus.
Contact tracing, as the program is called, alerts people who have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus so they can self-quarantine, said Dr. Keith Boell, Geisinger’s chief quality officer of population initiatives.
Boell is helping to lead the program, which is new to Geisinger.
The rise in confirmed coronavirus cases in the region, which had slowed late last week, again picked up over the weekend, with new state totals from the state showing 32 new cases in Columbia County since Friday.
There were 10 new cases in Montour County and 11 in Northumberland. Luzerne County, which saw a slowing from its hot spot status at the end of last week, recorded 121 new cases in three days -- less than a third of the growth it saw just a week ago.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania schools will remain shuttered for the rest of the academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic that has sickened thousands and caused hundreds of deaths statewide, under an order signed Thursday by the state's education secretary.
The extended shutdown order affects more than 1.7 million students in public and private K-12 schools. It means children will spend the rest of the year learning remotely.
Increases in area coronavirus cases slowed Wednesday, and numbers for Montour County actually decreased for the second straight day, according to the state Health Department.
But cases in Luzerne County, which now has the state’s largest concentration of cases outside the Philadelphia and Allentown areas, continued to soar.
As a response, county Manager David Pedri announced the launch of a county task force Facebook page to keep residents and visitors informed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders, who saw his once strong lead in the Democratic primary evaporate as the party’s establishment lined swiftly up behind rival Joe Biden, ended his presidential bid on Wednesday, an acknowledgment that the former vice president is too far ahead for him to have any reasonable hope of catching up.
The Vermont senator’s announcement makes Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Donald Trump in November.
HARRISBURG — In a surprise move, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission opened trout fishing across the state Tuesday morning, more than a week ahead of the expected opening date.
It was an effort to keep crowds to a managable size along rivers and lakes, where anglers could keep spaced out while fishing, commission spokesman Mike Parker said.
Area fishing spots saw small groups of anglers throughout the day. Around noon at Briar Creek Lake, there were about 10 people fishing and two boats on the lake, outdoors columnist Tom Austin said.
CENTRALIA — On Monday, crews from Fox Coal Co. began dumping the first of 400 loads of earth to cover over Graffiti Highway. Here's what that looked like, from the ground and the air.
