Coronavirus ‘new normal’ will continue through summer in Philly, mayor says; Pa.’s case surge could come next week

The “new normal” brought on by the coronavirus will likely continue at least through the summer in Philadelphia, Mayor Jim Kenney said Friday. Statewide, officials suspect the virus surge may occur next week, Gov. Tom Wolf said, but when the state may be able to “shut this shutdown down” remains a moving target.

“What we’ve put in place as far as social distancing and other things needs to go on and on, at least probably through the summer," Kenney said. “I don’t see that changing. We need to continue to modify our behavior ... in order for this not to come back.”

Amid cautious optimism that the state and city have begun to slow the rate of infection, one federal estimate showed that easing restrictions on daily life after just one month of stay-at-home orders would likely result in a big spike in cases and cause 200,000 deaths nationwide, the New York Times reported Friday.

President Donald Trump, who has asked Americans to say home through April 30, said at a White House briefing he was “looking at a date” to reopen the country and wanted to do it as soon as possible. But he said he would listen to medical experts and next week would name a federal task force that will determine when restrictions can lift.

The number of recorded coronavirus deaths worldwide passed 100,000 on Friday. As Easter weekend approached, officials warned residents not to gather and to be careful even at drive-by gatherings or in socially distant neighborhood greetings.

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Philadelphia reported its largest number of deaths yet in a single day — 33 — and Pennsylvania also recorded a high daily death toll, 78. Officials expect increasing fatalities because the death rate lags the infection rate, they said.

Nearly 20,000 Pennsylvanians had been confirmed to have the virus by Friday and 416 had died. Health Secretary Rachel Levine reported 1,751 newly confirmed cases.

New Jersey reported 233 deaths and 3,627 cases Friday, bringing its death toll to 1,932 and its case total to 54,588, as the state braced for a surge in hospitalizations over the weekend. The state logged more than 13,000 new cases from Monday to Friday.

Pennsylvania’s surge may vary by region and not be a single peak, said Levine. One model indicates peaking next week, but officials will have their eye on “the next number of weeks,” she said.

If the surge is “within the range of the capacity of our health-care system,” that will allow the state to recover faster, Wolf said. That depends on how strictly Pennsylvanians continue to follow social distancing measures, he added.

“If we start behaving as we behaved before all this, there’s no question the virus will start surging,” said Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley.

That could mean more city events get canceled, such as the Wawa Welcome America! festival, the city’s annual July Fourth celebration. Officials have not decided whether to hold it this year, Kenney said, saying it is the kind of event “that scare[s] us because there are so many people concentrated in one spot.”

By Friday, Pennsylvania had received most of the emergency supplies and medical equipment it had requested from the federal government, but was still seeking testing supplies and 1,000 ventilators, according to data released by the state Health Department on Friday. It had received 450,000 N95 masks, about 91% of the number the state had sought.

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It has not received any ventilators from the federal government as many states scramble to acquire the machines that can keep patients breathing as they are treated. Statewide, Pennsylvania still has thousands of ventilators available, though in some hot spots the available supply is diminishing, the state data showed.

Wolf announced a $450 million emergency loan program to help hospitals, many of which are struggling financially due to the loss of elective surgeries and other effects of the pandemic. Federal aid for hospitals is set to arrive, but until then, Wolf told reporters, his recent conversations with health-care leaders convinced him the state needed to “step in in the midterm.”

“We cannot allow any of our hospitals to become bankrupt,” he said. The program "will help ensure every hospital can get equipment essential to fighting this war without facing financial ruin.”

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A 40-bed temporary medical facility will open within Suburban Community Hospital in East Norriton, Montgomery County, officials said Friday. It will be staffed by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Surge Medical Assistance Response Team and is intended to free up hospital beds elsewhere for coronavirus patients.

Two inmates at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility tested positive for the virus, county officials said on the same day Pennsylvania and New Jersey made thousands of inmates eligible to be temporarily released from prison to prevent its spread.

Officials were also looking for ways to address outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Nearly a third of the deaths reported in New Jersey Friday were linked to such homes.

Garden State officials are considering moving residents, and several nursing homes have offered to become centers for coronavirus patients only, Health Director Judith M. Persichilli said. But those plans are constantly changing, she said, as the virus relents in some areas and intensifies in others.

“It’s becoming a daunting task,” she said, “but we are continuing it.”

Earlier in the week, officials said nearly 62% of the state’s nursing homes had at least one resident with the virus.

Murphy noted Friday that one large number was a good sign: 682 patients were discharged from New Jersey hospitals in a 24-hour period that ended at 10 p.m. Thursday.

“That’s a big deal,” he said. “You’re starting to see some glimmers of hope.”

Staff writers Anna Orso, Jonathan Tamari, Vinny Vella, Sean Collins Walsh, and Rob Tornoe contributed to this article.