Gov. Tom Wolf announces stay-at-home orders for entire state

Gov. Tom Wolf expanded his stay-at-home orders to the rest of the state on Wednesday afternoon.

Pennsylvania currently has stay-at-home orders enacted in 33 counties to help slow the spread of coronavirus throughout the state.

During a live-stream announcement on Wednesday, Wolf said that he would ordering the state’s remaining counties to also comply with his order to stay-at-home.

“Every day we wait the coronavirus spreads further and becomes more difficult to suppress,” he said. “regardless of where you reside in Pennsylvania you should not leave your home unless absolutely necessary.”

The order allows for people to leave their homes to maintain their health and safety or that of family members, if they need necessary supplies or services or for necessary travel such as caring for an elderly family member or for non-residents to return to their homes.

Businesses deemed non-life-sustaining must be closed as a part of the order. Life-sustaining businesses like restaurants can continue to offer take-out services.

“I’ve already implemented some of the strongest business and public space closures in the country and I’ve seen good compliance with residence already under my stay at home order,” Wolf said.

The counties already under stay-at-home orders currently include: Allegheny, Beaver, Berks, Bucks, Butler, Cameron, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Crawford, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Forest, Franklin, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Pike, Schuylkill, Somerset, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland and York counties.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced Wednesday that the number of positive cases of coronavirus in the state have grown to 5,805.

“This stay-at-home order is not just to protect ourselves from exposure to COVID-19 but it protects those on the front lines, our doctors, our police officers, our fire officials and emergency medicine technicians and paramedics need us to do this,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said.