Protests not changing health department plans as Allegheny County moves to green

Allegheny County county officials want to remind residents the coronavirus is still around as the region prepares to moves into the green phase of the state’s reopening plan.

“The virus has not gone away,” County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said during a press briefing Wednesday. “We have not developed a vaccine and or a cure at this point, so we really want people to make sure they remain safe.”

County Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen said preliminary data shows no significant increases in new covid-19 cases, hospitalizations or deaths during the yellow phase.

From May 1 to May 15, the health department reported 235 new cases, 55 hospitalizations and 42 deaths. From May 16 to May 30, there were 229 new cases, 48 hospitalizations and eight deaths.

“In all respects we’re doing very well,” Bogen said.

The county has expanded covid-19 testing to several community health clinics. As of Wednesday, the clinics had tested about 800 people. Less than 3% of those tests came back positive, Bogen said.

“We are undoubtedly going green because of the choices and decisions each one of you made,” Bogen said.

The county’s move to the green phase comes in the wake of large-scale protests that have occurred across the state and country in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. People who attend protests may find it hard to social distance, which could potentially spread the virus.

Bogen said the health department was already preparing for a rise in new cases because the county is going green. She said the protests haven’t really change those plans.

People still need to wear masks, practice social distancing, use hand sanitizer or wash their hands frequently, work from home if possible, and, if possible when in a crowd, wear protective eye coverings like goggles, glasses or a face shield, during the green phase, Bogen said.

“We have a lot of ability to increase the numbers of case investigators and contact tracers to address any rise that we see,” Bogen said. “We’re not making any specific changes as a result of the protests.”

Fitzgerald said from what he has seen, protesters are doing their best to social distance and wear masks. He said the same of in-person voters during Tuesday’s primary.

“The folks that are coming to the protest and demonstrating are doing so for good reasons,” Fitzgerald said. “They care about their community. They want their community to improve.”

Bogen said the health department has a team of case investigators and contact tracers who perform covid-19 case investigations seven days a week. She said case investigators ask people about the close contacts they’ve had, and will go through a timeline of when those contacts occurred.

“If somebody says ‘I’ve been to a rally,’ they would know that they’ve been to a protest or rally,” Bogen said.

Bogen said the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System recently added a new question that asks people if they’ve been to any large gatherings, but that wasn’t done because of the protests. It was done because counties are going to the green phase.

“It’s really to be able to track what happens as we enter green as people get together in larger groups,” Bogen said.