{"id":34301,"date":"2020-04-13T14:36:09","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T18:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=34301"},"modified":"2020-04-13T14:36:10","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T18:36:10","slug":"covid-19-update-april-13-mid-atlantic-states-to-work-together-to-plan-reopening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=34301","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 Update, April 13: Mid-Atlantic states to work together to plan ‘reopening’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Better numbers and a process to create a plan to reopen the region, Monday, may be the first signs that the tide is turning in the battle against the deadly COVID-19 virus. <\/span><\/p>\n

New case and fatality numbers in Pennsylvania and Chester County fell Sunday, as the governors of a number of Mid-Atlantic states announced process to jointly create a plan to slowly reopen society and business \u2014 a planning process Gov. Tom Wolf said could lead to the people of the state having their \u201chope for the future\u201d restored.<\/span><\/p>\n

At a joint press conference Monday afternoon, the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island announced they would form a working group to come up with a coordinated plan for reopening business and society across the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

In making the announcement, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that there would be variations not only between the varying states, but between rural, suburban and urban areas, as determined by need, noting that each state will have some variations on the overall plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each state will provide a health official, an economic development official and the governor\u2019s Chief of Staff as a working group to come up with a joint plan \u2014 as the state\u2019s economy are deeply interconnected and decisions made in one state impact neighboring states.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re creating a plan to let our people know we have a future,\u201d Wolf said via telephone into the press conference, saying he thought it was important for Pennsylvania’s residents to know better days are ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no timeline as yet \u2014\u00a0 in New York and Pennsylvania, COVID-19 cases appear to have crested, as New Jersey\u2019s numbers continue to worsen. Health decisions will be primary, the governors said, in a slow process of reopening the economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the optimism came as the state was able to show a slowing of new cases and fatalities from the virus.<\/p>\n

The state Department of Health (DOH) said Monday there were 1,366 new positive cases of COVID-19 in the state on Sunday, for a statewide total of 24,199 to date with 17 new deaths, bring the state death toll to 524.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise in Pennsylvania, and even though the daily increases are not exponential, now is not the time to become complacent,\u201d state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. \u201cWe must continue to stay home to protect ourselves, our families, our community.\u00a0If you must go out, please make as few trips as possible and wear a mask to protect not only yourself, but other people as well. We need all Pennsylvanians to continue to heed these efforts to protect our vulnerable Pennsylvanians, our health care workers and frontline responders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In Chester County, the county Health Department reported 30 new cases on Sunday, marking the second straight day of declining totals. The death toll continues to be 17.<\/span><\/p>\n

The strain on the state\u2019s hospitals has been significant \u2014 Gov. Tom Wolf announced a loan program for the state\u2019s hospitals, Hospital Emergency Loan Program (HELP), which could provide up to $450 million in loans to state hospitals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe combination of increased costs and reduced revenue has hurt many hospitals financially,\u201d Gov. Wolf said on Friday in a statement. \u201cWe must support our hospitals through this unprecedented time. When this pandemic finally ends, we\u2019re going to need hospitals to care for our regular medical needs, like heart attacks and broken bones. This new loan program will provide immediate relief to our hospitals, which are on the frontlines of this pandemic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But hospital operators in the state said Monday that effort would not be enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) on Monday asked Gov. Wolf to relieve the state\u2019s hospitals of making Quality Care Assessment (QCA) payments totaling $500 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to HAP, it is asking the commonwealth to cover the required tax payments to alleviate the financial stress facing hospitals as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Deadlines for the QCA payments are coming in May and June. If the payments are not made, federal matching dollars that support hospitals will not be available.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe COVID-19 pandemic has already taxed Pennsylvania\u2019s hospitals, and now the upcoming assessment payments will only exacerbate a developing financial crisis,\u201d said Andy Carter, CEO and president of HAP. \u201dWe immediately need the state to work with us and cover these payments so hospitals can fight COVID-19 today and carry out the mission of providing care for patients tomorrow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While saying he appreciated the governor\u2019s loan plan, Carter said it was completely inadequate to the needs of the state\u2019s hospitals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHAP appreciates the commonwealth\u2019s gesture toward relieving a cash flow crunch, but a loan, capped at a relatively modest amount, falls dramatically short of what is needed to shore up the hospital community\u2019s short- and long-term solvency,\u201d Carter said.<\/span><\/p>\n

HAP is also asking the state to establish a Health Care Coronavirus Emergency Response Fund of $1.5 billion to make sure the commonwealth\u2019s health care providers \u2014 hospitals, doctors and nurses, health centers, nursing homes and all providers at the front lines \u2014 have the support they need to get through this public health emergency and are there for patients in the tough months of healing ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, HAP and its members seek accelerated payments from commercial insurers and a 20 percent Medicaid rate increase for COVID-19-related treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) announced Monday that its training academy in Hershey will be closed for at least two weeks after an enlisted staff member assigned to the facility tested positive for COVID-19. During the closure, the 100 cadets comprising the 159<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> class will continue instruction remotely from home, using the Canvas online learning platform.<\/span><\/p>\n

All other activities at the academy, including continuing education classes for PSP personnel and municipal law enforcement officers, have been suspended since March to promote appropriate social distancing among cadets and staff. The 158<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> cadet class graduated on March 27<\/span><\/a>, leaving only the 159<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> class at the academy.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Better numbers and a process to create a plan to reopen the region, Monday, may be the first signs that the tide is turning in the battle against the deadly COVID-19 virus. New case and fatality numbers in Pennsylvania and Chester County fell Sunday, as the governors of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12003,11909,12001,6518,12000,5859,12005,240,12002,760,12004],"class_list":["post-34301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-connecticut","tag-covid-19","tag-delaware","tag-featured","tag-gov-andrew-cuomo","tag-gov-tom-wolf","tag-hospital-and-healthsystem-association-of-pennsylvania","tag-hospitals","tag-new-jersey","tag-pennsylvania-state-police","tag-rhode-island"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34302,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34301\/revisions\/34302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}