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Yes, wear a mask outside, officials say | Coronavirus Newsletter

Plus, why hospitals are furloughing employees

Jessica Torres Terreforte, a Certified Nursing Assistant, and her son Daniel Terreforte, in the parking lot of Walmart located at the Philadelphia Mills Shopping Center.
Jessica Torres Terreforte, a Certified Nursing Assistant, and her son Daniel Terreforte, in the parking lot of Walmart located at the Philadelphia Mills Shopping Center.Read moreJESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

TL;DR: Officials are now saying you should be wearing cloth masks in public, but still limit leaving your home to just essential outings. Area hospitals are furloughing employees and some are forcing nonmedical staffers to come to work. Inside those hospitals, health care workers don’t have the supplies they need. Pennsylvania asked FEMA for nearly 500,000 N95 masks for medical workers, but it’s still 380,000 short.

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— Ellie Silverman (@esilverman11, health@inquirer.com)

What you need to know

😷 People are urged to wear cloth masks in public, the CDC and Pennsylvania officials say.

🛑 You will not have to pay co-pays, deductibles, or an out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 inpatient hospital treatment if you have health insurers Independence Blue Cross or Horizon.

🏥 Pennsylvania asked FEMA for nearly 500,000 N95 masks for medical workers, but it’s still 380,000 short. The state also needs more ventilators.

💰Pennsylvania will stop paying 9,000 state employees by the end of next week.

♻️ Philly will start collecting recycling every other week starting Monday.

🍷 Pennsylvania’s liquor board reported selling almost a month’s worth of wine and spirits in only 17 days. But people are somehow running out of booze, and when they cross the border to buy alcohol, Delaware police are pulling them over.

Local coronavirus cases

📈As of Friday evening, there are more than 4,700 reported cases in the Philadelphia area. Track the spread here.

  1. PHILADELPHIA: 2,100 confirmed cases (up 425 since yesterday)

  2. SUBURBAN PA: 1,864 confirmed cases (up 269 since yesterday)

  3. SOUTH JERSEY: 819 confirmed cases (up 106 since yesterday)

All Pennsylvanians should wear a cloth mask if they have to leave their home, Gov. Tom Wolf said today, urging residents to follow the new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But you should not wear paper surgical masks or N95 masks, Wolf and Health Secretary Rachel Levine said. Those kinds of masks need to be reserved for essential workers, like doctors treating COVID-19 patients, my colleague Erin McCarthy reports. Instead, officials say residents should make their own (here is what you need to know about homemade face masks and how to make them). After all, Pennsylvania asked FEMA for nearly 500,000 N95 masks for medical workers, but it’s still 380,000 short.

“Masks help prevent people from sharing illnesses,” Wolf said. “They don’t do a great job at preventing people from getting sick and they’re not foolproof, so it’s critical that our first act … is to ask ourselves whether we really need to leave our house.”

President Donald Trump announced today that the CDC now recommends cloth masks, but wearing a covering is voluntary.

Nonclinical workers are some local hospitals are facing furloughs, even as health care workers are desperately needed to help those sick with COVID-19.

This is because hospitals across the state are collectively losing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue a month, said Andy Carter, president and chief executive of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.

Some workers affected, according to my colleagues Ellie Rushing and Jason Laughlin include:

  1. Trinity Health’s Mid-Atlantic System, which operates five hospitals in the Pennsylvania suburbs, plans to furlough staff.

  2. Shore Medical Center in Somers Point, N.J., asked nonclinical workers to volunteer for layoffs.

  3. Bayada Home Health Care of Moorestown, N.J., is temporarily furloughing 3% of its work force.

  4. Temple told workers involved in non-emergency care to take administrative leave or use personal time off for two weeks.

  5. At Pottstown Memorial Hospital, technicians who perform procedures like ultrasounds and CAT scans are seeing their hours cut

Other hospitals, meanwhile, are requiring nonmedical employees to show up for work, even as officials say it is important for people to stay home unless they are essential, my colleagues Lisa Gartner and Jason Laughlin report. Wolf’s order closing all “non-life-sustaining” businesses allows hospitals to decide which employees have to report to work. (Here are the “life-sustaining businesses” allowed to stay open during the coronavirus pandemic.)

Employees in marketing, finance, and human resources at Friends Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia were told to use vacation days, apply for a leave of absence, or go unpaid if they wanted to stay home.

Belmont Behavioral Health Hospital on the Main Line is also requiring nonmedical employees to show up for work. The hospital fired a teacher who insisted on working with juvenile patients online from home.

Read more about workers being asked to show up for work.

» HELP US REPORT: Are you a health care worker, medical provider, government worker, patient, frontline worker or other expert? We want to hear from you.

Helpful resources

  1. What can help protect you from the coronavirus?

  2. What are the first symptoms of the coronavirus?

  3. Pink eye is also a possible early warning sign of coronavirus, eye doctors report.

  4. Where can I get a coronavirus test?

  5. Not sure what a medical term means? We have definitions for you.

  6. Have another question? Our reporters have tracked down answers.

Let’s take a quick break

🐶 Union carpenters created free custom doghouses for the Pennsylvania SPCA.

🏀 For Sixers GM Elton Brand, being a candidate for New York Knicks job is win-win.

👮‍♀️ The first female police chief in Atlantic County wants to open doors for other women.

Social distancing tip of the day: Thank your cashier

When you finally do venture out of your home to grab groceries, consider the people behind the counter and restocking shelves, working through the pandemic so you can get food on your table.

My colleague Grace Dickinson gives tips on how to give thanks, including by shopping fast and efficiently, voicing your gratitude, writing a thank you note, paying it forward, staging a neighborhood round of applause, and delivering a treat. Read more advice here.

Have a social distancing tip or question to share? Let us know at health@inquirer.com and your input might be featured in a future edition of this newsletter.

What we’re paying attention to

  1. Some businesses are getting waivers to reopen. Others are not. WHYY reports on why many owners are confused and frustrated.

  2. If you’re single and live alone you may be wondering if you can have a coronavirus buddy. Vox talks to epidemiologists about if this is okay.

  3. The description of the Strategic National Stockpile on a government website contradicted what Jared Kushner said. So, the Trump administration changed the description, the Washington Post reported.

It’s not all horrible

Kahlil Gunther, a Woodstown High School choral-music teacher, who has played at Peter Shields Inn & Restaurant in Cape May for more than 20 years is adapting to virtual concerts.

From 6 to 7 p.m. for the last two Saturdays, the 47-year-old piano man has live streamed concerts on Facebook. He has played sets with songs from the Beatles, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Nirvana, my colleague Alfred Lubrano reports.

“When you live in a small town and are part of a church community,” Gunther said, “you feel as though you want to do things that aren’t just meaningful for yourself, but for other people. That’s why I decided on the concert series.”

Read more about Gunther here.

News about coronavirus is changing quickly. Go to inquirer.com/coronavirus to make sure you are seeing the newest information.