Fresh sorrow, new hope as the region prepares for a very different Easter

Fresh sorrow and new hope arose in the fight against the coronavirus on Saturday as the Philadelphia region prepared for an Easter unlike any other. Pennsylvania and New Jersey announced more deaths, and while the rate of increase for new cases appeared to have slowed, an end to the crisis remained distant.

Health experts and elected officials pleaded with people to stay home from Sunday church services and family gatherings, saying a crucial chance to flatten the curve of the coronavirus’ spread was at hand.

“The worst that could happen out of this is that people get together physically right now and then the virus starts to surge again,” Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said on WURD radio. “So please, please, please have your services virtually rather than face-to-face.”

Churches, mosques, and synagogues in the region and beyond have closed to try to stop the movement of the virus.

Many houses of worship in the Philadelphia region planned to offer livestream services, providing at least virtual connection among worshippers stuck in their homes. Catholics can watch Easter Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul on the Archdiocese of Philadelphia website and on Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez’s Facebook page.

The archdiocese shut off public access to the cathedral Masses last week, after The Inquirer reported that attendees were not practicing social distancing. Among the more than 200 parishes in the city and suburbs, at least 63 now are livestreaming or pre-recording Masses.

But in-person Easter services will take place as usual at Greater Exodus Baptist Church on North Broad Street.

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“Closing the doors of the church is not an option for me,” said the Rev. Herb H. Lusk II, the pastor.

“I know there’s a lot of temptation around going to the services,” Philadelphia Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner Javon Davis said on WURD, an African American owned-and-operated talk station. “But with the way that this is hitting the black community, I really hope people would refrain from doing that. I had to have a long conversation with my grandparents about holding out for just this one year.”

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Easter is one of the oldest and most important events on the Christian calendar, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ after he died on the cross. For children, it also can be a time for candy and egg hunts.

On Saturday, the Easter Bunny hopped into suburban Jenkintown, in the furry, pink-eared form of police officer Anthony Matteo, who dressed up and delivered candy to children, always from a safe distance. The bunny traversed the borough neighborhoods, dropping candy into baskets left curbside, riding in the trunk of a police SUV driven by fellow officer Cory Murtagh.

For many, the sense of isolation and social separation grew deeper and more frustrating.

“Everyone’s in a funk. It’s a global funk,” said Sicklerville video producer Ron Cohen. He wanted to create something uplifting, and after seeing videos of professionals singing together, thought, “Wouldn’t it be neat just to get regular people?”

He assembled 33 people from Philadelphia to the Philippines for an international recording session of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World,” working at a socially appropriate distance with sound mixer and neighbor Matt Campana.

So far, the video has been viewed more than 5,000 times, an emotional singalong that’s provoked a few tears.

Still, anyone who thought the crisis was over needed only to look at the numbers.

The United States passed Italy in total coronavirus-related deaths, reaching 20,268 on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University. Italy had 19,468.

New York City weighed whether to join Pennsylvania in closing schools for the rest of the academic year.

The economy continued to tilt. Parx Casino and Parx Racing in Bensalem prepared to furlough 2,200 workers, according to LevittownNow.com.

The deaths kept coming too, each but one in the widening sea of fatalities, each deeply personal and devastating to one family or community.

Officials confirmed that Archbishop Stephen Sulyk, 95, a longtime leader in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, died on Monday from the coronavirus at Virtua Hospital in Voorhees.

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Pennsylvania officials on Saturday reported an additional 78 deaths, bringing the death toll to 494, and 1,676 positive cases, pushing the case total past 21,000.

State Health Secretary Rachel Levine said that social-distancing and preventative efforts seem to be working, slowing the rise of new cases and “bending the curve” if not yet flattening it.

That slowing hardly signals the end. An Inquirer analysis showed that Pennsylvania had improved to where cases were doubling every three to four days, instead of every two to three days.

Levine urged residents to continue to stay home and socially distanced. State officials are considering what conditions must be met to lift the stay-at-home order, although that longed-for transformation remains in the future.

“We’re not there yet,” Levine said, cautioning that even when the state eventually ends the order, “it's not going to be one grand opening, it's going to go in a progressive fashion.”

Philadelphia now has more than 6,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, officials said Saturday.

The 359 new cases overnight look like an improvement, down from roughly 500 cases a day, but officials noted that some labs don’t report results on weekends.

“Now is not the time to let up on social distancing and other precautions,” Health Commissioner Farley said. There were 23 deaths in the city overnight, for a total of 160 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

New Jersey reported on Saturday that nearly 3,600 more people had tested positive and an additional 251 had died, bringing the totals to 58,151 cases and 2,183 deaths.

Still, the rate of new cases is slowing, “a very good early sign that we are beginning to beat this virus back,” Gov. Phil Murphy said at a news conference.

Murphy announced that New Jersey Transit will be directed to cut capacity on trains, light rail, buses, and paratransit vehicles to half the maximum. The agency will supply transit workers with gloves and face coverings, and riders must wear masks or the equivalent.

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People entering restaurants to grab takeout orders also must wear face coverings, Murphy announced.

New Jerseyans have to stay vigilant or “we blow our chances of flattening this curve,” he said. Masks may be inconvenient, but “you know what would be really inconvenient is if you ended up in the hospital with COVID-19.”

Inquirer staff writers Allison Steele and Katie Park and photographer Tyger Williams contributed to this article.