Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf Signs Emergency Disaster Declaration Due To Coronavirus
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has signed an emergency disaster declaration due to the coronavirus.
This comes after two people were confirmed to have contracted the virus in Pennsylvania.
"It's imperative that we continue to respond quickly and accurately to the coronavirus and its introduction into Pennsylvania," Gov. Wolf said. "First and foremost, we want all Pennsylvanians to be safe and remain healthy and follow the practical advice of the Department of Health on ways to protect yourself from any virus and that's by washing hands, covering your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough and staying home if you are sick.
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Wolf says the state's first two cases of coronavirus have been identified, one in Delaware County and one in Wayne County.
Today we have our first two confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Pennsylvania.
I want to assure Pennsylvanians that we are prepared for this. This is not the first rapidly spreading virus we have faced, and it certainly will not be our last. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/3diAywJIwE
— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) March 6, 2020
"We anticipated this very scenario and have been preparing for Pennsylvanians to become impacted by this virus," Governor Wolf said. "This is not the first rapidly-spreading virus we have faced in our commonwealth and it will not be the last. We are prepared to mitigate the spread of this virus."
The two people are quarantined in their homes, Wolf said.
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One of the individuals is an adult from Wayne County who traveled to a country where the virus was present.
The other is an adult from Delaware County that recently traveled to an area of the U.S. where the virus was present.
"It is critical to prepare for and respond to suspected or confirmed cases in the commonwealth and to implement measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The disaster declaration is an additional way we can be prepared, so I authorized the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Director or his designee, to assume command and control of all statewide emergency operations and authorize and direct that all commonwealth departments and agencies use all available resources and personnel as is deemed necessary to cope with this emergency situation," Wolf said via press release.
The disaster declaration follows the Department of Health's activation of its Department Operations Center at the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency's headquarters to conduct public health and medical coordination for COVID-19 throughout the commonwealth and the governor's announcement earlier this morning about two presumptive positive cases in Pennsylvania.
