The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in March 2020. , the Pennsylvania Department of Health has confirmed 1,464,264 cumulative cases and 29,814 deaths in the state. , Pennsylvania has administered 6,238,812 partial vaccinations, and 5,983,128 full vaccinations.
Timeline March 2020 On March 6, Governor Tom Wolf reported Pennsylvania's first two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Delaware County and in Wayne County. Both cases were related to travel, one to another state in the U.S. and another to Europe. On March 9, 4 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 10. On March 10, 2 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 12. On March 12, Governor Wolf implemented social distancing measures in Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties, which urged nonessential businesses to close. On March 13, Governor Wolf announced that all Pennsylvania schools will be closed for at least two weeks. Additionally, park programs were cancelled.PA cancels public park programs in light of COVID-19 Pocono Record On March 16, Governor Wolf extended the social distancing measures across the entire state. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney ordered nonessential businesses and city government to close for two weeks. Governor Wolf ordered bars and restaurants to close to dine-in customers in Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties. Visitors were also prohibited at correctional facilities and nursing homes statewide. The Pennsylvania Turnpike stopped accepting cash or credit cards and implemented all-electronic tolling starting at 8 p.m. By March 17, there were 96 cases in the state; more than half of them were in the Philadelphia area with Montgomery County as the highest number. All Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores across the state closed at the end of the business day. On March 18, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported the state's first death related to the virus, a patient at St. Luke's Fountain Hill campus in Northampton County. On March 19, Governor Wolf ordered a statewide closure of all "non-life sustaining businesses operations and services," with enforcement of this order going into effect at 12:01 am on Saturday, March 21. The PA Department of Education canceled all statewide assessments including the PSSA testing, Keystone exams, and the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) for the remainder of the 2019–2020 school year. On March 21, the department of health announced the state's second death as well as 103 new cases. The second death was in Allegheny County. Rachel Levine, the Secretary of Health for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, said during a press conference "A state-wide shelter in place was not out of the question." On March 22, 273 new cases were reported, bringing the total to 644. The sixth death occurred in Montgomery County. Mayor Kenney issued a stay-at-home order for the city of Philadelphia, set to take effect March 23 at 8:00 am. On March 23, Governor Wolf issued additional stay-at-home orders for Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Monroe, and a redundant order for Philadelphia County, to go into effect at 8:00 pm the same day. On March 24, Governor Wolf issued a stay-at-home order for Erie County starting at 8:00 pm the same day. On March 25, Governor Wolf issued a stay-at-home order for Lehigh and Northampton counties. On March 27, Governor Wolf issued a stay-at-home order for Berks, Butler, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Luzerne, Pike, Wayne, Westmoreland, and York counties. On March 28, Governor Wolf issued a stay-at-home order for Beaver, Centre, and Washington counties. Governor Wolf announced 533 new cases, bringing the statewide total to 2,751. The highest rise in cases was in Philadelphia County.
April 2020
On April 1, Governor Wolf extended the stay-at-home order across the entire state effective that evening at 8:00 pm. On April 3, Governor Wolf asked Pennsylvanians to wear cloth face coverings in public. Philadelphia reduced recycling pickup to every two weeks due to staff shortages. On April 9, Governor Wolf officially ordered the closing of all Pennsylvania schools through the end of the academic school year. He stated that they will resume all classes through means of Google Classroom and other online classroom tools. He had not yet stated if the Class of 2020 graduations will be postponed or cancelled. On April 15, Health Secretary Levine issued an order requiring safety precautions for essential businesses (except for Hospitals). On April 17, Governor Wolf laid out a plan to provide relief for Pennsylvanians (Phase 1), gradually reopen the state (Phase 2), and recover from this situation (Phase 3). The state government used a three-phase color-coded plan to reopen the state. The first and most restrictive phase was the red phase, which included a stay-at-home order and only allowed essential businesses to be open. The second phase of the reopening process was the yellow phase, which called for aggressive mitigation and allowed some businesses to reopen while others must remain closed. The third and least restrictive phase was the green phase, which allowed most businesses to be open while following health guidelines. On April 19, Governor Wolf ordered employees and customers at essential businesses to wear face masks effective at 8 p.m. On April 20, hundreds of protesters marched on the Pennsylvania State Capitol building during an "Operation Gridlock Pennsylvania" event in Harrisburg in order to protest the stay-at-home order. The protest was organized by three groups, "Re-open Pennsylvania", "End the Lockdown Pennsylvania" and "Pennsylvania Against Excessive Quarantine" led in part by an Ohio-based Second Amendment rights activist named Chris Dorr.
May 2020
On May 1, public and private construction projects were allowed to resume. In addition, golf courses, marinas, guided fishing trips, and private campgrounds were allowed to reopen. On May 7, Governor Wolf extended the stay-at-home order until June 4 for counties in the red phase. On May 8, 24 counties entered the yellow phase, allowing some businesses to reopen. They are Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango, and Warren. On May 15, 13 more counties entered the yellow phase: Allegheny, Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland. On May 22, 12 more counties entered the yellow phase: Adams, Beaver, Carbon, Columbia, Cumberland, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, Susquehanna, Wayne, Wyoming, and York. On May 29, eight more counties entered the yellow phase: Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Lebanon, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike and Schuylkill. The first 18 counties to enter the green phase were Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Montour, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Venango, and Warren.
June 2020
On June 5, 16 more counties entered the green phase: Allegheny, Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Clinton, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Lycoming, Mercer, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland. The last ten counties to enter the yellow phase were Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and Philadelphia. There are no remaining counties in the red phase. On June 12, 12 more counties entered the green phase: Adams, Beaver, Carbon, Columbia, Cumberland, Juniata, Mifflin, Northumberland, Union, Wayne, Wyoming, and York. On June 16, there had been 48 cases and 4 deaths at a York County nursing home. On June 19, eight more counties entered the green phase: Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Luzerne, Monroe, Perry, Pike, and Schuylkill. On June 24, Pennsylvania's Secretary of Health, Dr. Rachel Levine, announced that the state would partner with CVS Health to provide free COVID-19 tests to skilled nursing facilities across the state, to commence June 29. On June 26, 12 more counties entered the green phase: Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Erie, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia and Susquehanna.
July 2020
On July 1, Governor Wolf issued a statewide order mandating the wearing of face masks in all public spaces in the state. On July 2, the Pennsylvania Department of Health recommended that people who have traveled, or plan to travel, to a state with a high number of COVID-19 cases should quarantine for 14 days upon return to Pennsylvania. On July 3, Lebanon County became the final county to enter the green phase. Allegheny County, which is home to Pittsburgh, closed bars, restaurants, and casinos for a week, and cancelled gatherings of 25 people or more due to a rise in cases. On July 10, West Chester University of Pennsylvania announced that classes for the fall 2020 semester would be held online due to rising COVID-19 cases. On July 14, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania also announced that classes for the fall 2020 semester will be held online. On July 15, Governor Wolf partially rolled back some of the lifted restrictions by imposing new restrictions due to a rise in cases. Restaurants were limited to 25 percent capacity for indoor dining, alcohol can only be served for on-premises consumption when purchased with a meal, telework must be implemented when possible, and indoor gatherings were limited to 25 people. On July 24, the Berks County Coroner office in Reading announced an autopsy revealed a local 26-day-old female baby that recently died tested positive for the virus and would investigate the death as a co-sleeping accident. The baby may be the state's youngest death from the virus. On July 25, two block parties at night in the Lawncrest neighborhood of Philadelphia were stopped by local police officers in an effort to stop viral transmission.
August 2020
On August 6, Governor Wolf recommended that interscholastic and recreational sports be suspended until January 1, 2021. On August 11, the University of Pennsylvania announced most undergraduates would be asked to stay home. As of August 11, 332 cases were reported at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver County, with at least 73 deaths. On August 12, a surge in cases in rural Union County was the result of at least 19 cases at the federal prison at Lewisburg. On August 19, a large crowd of freshmen students at the University Park campus of Pennsylvania State University gathered; many of them did not practice social distancing or wearing masks. A petition calling for the freshmen who gathered in the crowd to be sent home gained close to 3,500 signatures. On August 21, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association approved for schools to play fall sports. On August 30, Temple University reverted to online instruction after 103 people tested positive. Contact tracing linked the outbreak to off-campus apartments and small social gatherings. On August 31, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania moved classes online for the remainder of the fall semester following a rise in COVID-19 cases during the first two weeks of students being on campus for classes.
September 2020
On September 1, Philadelphia's health commissioner told Temple University students, "You should assume that everyone around you is infected." Guidance for colleges in Philadelphia was revised "to recommend against gatherings of any size." Gettysburg College announced an all-student quarantine through at least the end of the week, after 25 of 348 students tested positive. On September 3, Temple University announced classes would be held online for the remainder of the fall semester following the COVID-19 outbreak at the campus.