Pennsylvania had its lowest amount of new cases since May 11 started as the state announced that they were getting some help from the CDC.

Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine today announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sent three teams to Pennsylvania to assist with the COVID-19 response.

“We are so pleased to have this level of collaboration and assistance from the CDC to help our teams working in the field in Pennsylvania,” Dr. Levine said. “COVID-19 is a particularly challenging situation for congregate settings, including large workplaces, food industries and long-term care facilities. These teams are assisting us in our response in these hardest-hit areas as we work to protect the public health and safety of Pennsylvanians.”

These teams arrived in Pennsylvania on Thursday, May 14. Since then, they have been working to become familiar with the situation across the state so they can begin providing assistance to locations in need. There are two teams assisting long-term care facilities and one team assisting food facility outbreaks.

The CDC teams will be onsite in Pennsylvania for two weeks to help in the response using their expertise. These teams will help assess the situation, teach infection control practices, and offer training on personal protective equipment (PPE) and outbreak response at the facilities they visit. They will also assist with developing a testing strategy for the nursing homes they visit and use their expertise to help cohort residents.

Pennsylvania added 610 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, According to information released on Pa. Department of Health’s website, the state has 63,666 cases of the virus since the first case was discovered in March.

The death toll was increased by 119 souls on Tuesday, putting the count at 4,624.

Dauphin County added 11 cases to its total on Tuesday, while Schuylkill County added four cases and one death, while Northumberland County added two cases. Dauphin County currently stands at a total to 989 cases with 50 deaths, Schuylkill stands at 534 cases with 21 deaths, and Northumberland County, in the yellow phase of reopening, is at 145 cases and two deaths.

In comparison, Philadelphia County, the hot spot of the state, added 147 cases and 29 deaths, putting their totals at 16,487 positive cases and 1,109 deaths since the coronavirus first hit in March..

Officials say that the public’s effort on social distancing and wearing masks must continue to get things back to normal.

“As counties move from red to yellow, we need all Pennsylvanians to continue to follow the social distancing and mitigation efforts in place,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. “We must continue to protect our most vulnerable Pennsylvanians, which includes our seniors, those with underlying health issues, our healthcare workers and our first responders. I am proud of the work that Pennsylvanians have done so far, but we cannot stop now, we must continue to take the necessary steps to protect ourselves from COVID-19.”

As far as negative tests for each county, Dauphin is listed as having 7,977 negative tests while Schuylkill reported 3,347 negative tests and 1,093 in Northumberland County.

The state also updated numbers of age ranges of the positive cases and hospitalizations to date. Currently 1,853 Pennsylvania residents are hospitalized with the virus and its complications, down 32 from Monday.

The breakdown is as follows:

Positive cases

Ages 0-4, <1%; 5-12, <1%; 13-18, 1%; 19-24, 6%; 25-49, 37%; 50-64, 26%, 65+, 29%

Hospitalizations

Ages 0-29, 2%; 30-49, 5%; 50-64, 10%; 65-79, 20%; 80+, 19%

The counties affected and the number of confirmed cases, with the number of deaths in parentheses, are:

Adams-194 (5), Allegheny-1,658 (145), Armstrong-58 (2), Beaver-534 (70), Bedford-32 (2),  Berks-3,735 (262), Blair-38 (1), Bradford-41 (3), Bucks-4,573 (426), Butler-206 (12), Cambria-54 (2), Cameron-2 Carbon-214 (22), Centre-132 (5), Chester-2,199 (230), Clarion-24 (2), Clearfield-33, Clinton-45, Columbia-337 (29), Crawford-21, Cumberland-540 (42), Dauphin-989 (50), Delaware-5,754 (451), Elk-6, Erie-147 (4), Fayette-92 (4), Forest-7, Franklin-644 (27), Fulton-12 (1), Greene-27, Huntingdon-214, Indiana-86 (4), Jefferson-7, Juniata-94 (2), Lackawanna-1,374 (127), Lancaster-2,593 (259), Lawrence-73 (8), Lebanon-880 (24), Lehigh-3,513 (182), Luzerne-2,554 (124), Lycoming-149 (9), McKean-11 (1), Mercer-96 (4), Mifflin-57 (1), Monroe-1,267 (89), Montgomery-6,063 (575), Montour-50, Northampton-2,758 (176), Northumberland-145 (2), Perry-41 (1), Philadelphia-16,487 (1,109), Pike-469 (17), Potter-4, Schuylkill-534 (21), Snyder-33 (1), Somerset-36, Sullivan-2, Susquehanna-85 (15), Tioga-16 (2), Union-50 (1), Venango-8, Warren-2, Washington-130 (5), Wayne-110 (7), Westmoreland-431 (38), Wyoming-30 (5), York-866 (18).

As of midnight May 19, there have been 286,034 negative tests for the coronavirus, 8,481 more than the day before.

What is coronavirus?

According to the Pa. Department of Health, coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common throughout the world. These viruses can live in animals and at times, evolve and infect people before spreading through human to human contact.

Human coronaviruses are spread just like the common cold or the flu — either through the air through coughing or sneezing, through close personal contact like touching or shaking hands, or by touching an object or surface with the virus on it.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. The symptoms can appear in as few as two days or as long as 14 days after a person is exposed to the illness. Reported illnesses have ranged from people with little to no symptoms to severe illness and death. As of May 17, the U.S. Center for Disease Control reports there have been 1,480,349 cases of the Coronavirus reported in the U.S. with 89,407 deaths.

What can you do?

Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
Cover any coughs or sneezes with your elbow, not your hands.
Clean surfaces frequently.
Stay home to avoid spreading COVID-19, especially if you are unwell.
If you must go out for a life-sustaining reason, please wear a mask.
The Pa. Department of Health offers these guidelines as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

Stay home as much as possible. Try to get groceries once per week instead of daily. Freedom of travel remains, but please refrain from non-essential travel. Essential travel includes things like commuting to an essential job, picking up supplies like groceries and medicine, and checking on family and pets in other households. Do not host or attend gatherings.