After announcing his 3-step color-coded plan to eventually reopen Pennsylvania on Wednesday night, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf added on a Thursday call with reporters that in terms of the Philly area, counties in Southeastern PA will likely be "among the last places" in the commonwealth to reopen, since they've been hit the hardest.
On Wednesday, he added that some of the areas that may start to reopen up a bit in the "yellow" phase will likely be in the northcentral and northwestern Pennsylvania area.
In terms of Southeastern PA, with specifically hard hit areas like Philadelphia and Montgomery County, Wolf said: “What’s good for Philadelphia is not going to be good for Cameron County; what’s good for Tioga County is not going to be good for Montgomery County. We need to recognize that reality as we move forward.”
Wolf added that local officials will have a say in whether a county will be able to reopen, and benchmarks include testing capacity and the amount of tests that are needed in a certain area.
He added: "It won't be hard and fast. We’re going to have to make subjective decisions. What I’m trying to do is create a reasonable and logical and informed reopening strategy, but it has to be one that is sensitive to the possibility that we move too quickly.”
On Wednesday night, he said that the state would take a hard look at the data and health experts before reopening any area, and he echoed that today, saying the state "has the ability to backtrack" if a flare-up of cases happen in an area that reopens too early.
READ THE ENTIRE 3-STEP COLOR-CODED PLAN FOR EVENTUALLY REOPENING PENNSYLVANIA HERE