Story by Mark Peterson

(Beaver County, PA) The Corona Virus has many  symptoms that are well known and documented like a high fever and breathing difficulties.  However, the Covid -19 pandemic also has has an undesirable side effect that isn’t quite as apparent, isolation.  For most people, being shut in and stuck in the house for weeks, as part of quarantine efforts to stop the spread of the disease, is merely an inconvenience.  But, for someone experiencing bouts of domestic violence, the stay at home orders can mean being trapped with an abuser and having the feeling like they have no options. In part two of a weekly three part series, Beaver County Radio spoke to Ann Murray from the Beaver County Women’s Center about this important issue, and the therapy services that Women’s Center has available to help people in crisis during this unique situation.

Again, The Women’s Center helpline continues to be available 24 hours a day and can help provide options and support to anyone involved with domestic violence. The number once again is 724-775-0131.  Next Thursday, in part three of our series about the effects of isolation and being forced to stay at home with a potential abuser,  Beaver County Radio will speak with Ann Murray from the Women’s Center of Beaver County about court advocacy services that are available through the organization. For more Information, a link to the Women’s Center of Beaver County is available at beavercountyradio.com.

Some counties continue on path to defy governor’s orders
By MARC LEVY and MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania county plans to defy Gov. Tom Wolf and operate under looser shutdown guidelines being allowed elsewhere in the state. The Republican chairman of the Beaver County board said Wednesday that the county will reopen Friday. The Democratic governor had tapped 13 counties in western Pennsylvania for relief from the tightest pandemic restrictions starting Friday. But Beaver County is home to a severe outbreak in a nursing home and was not among them. Wolf is under pressure from Republicans to more quickly lift restrictions in more areas. He has threatened to block pandemic aid to counties that defy him.

Department of Health Provides Update on COVID-19, 707 Positives Bring Statewide Total to 58,698

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Health today confirmed as of 12:00 a.m., May 13, that there are 707 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 58,698. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have cases of COVID-19.

As a result of our continued work to reconcile data from various sources, the state is reporting an increase of 137 new deaths today, bringing the statewide total to 3,943 deaths in Pennsylvania. These deaths have occurred over the past several weeks. County-specific information and a statewide map are available here.

Locally in Beaver County we are still at 509 positive cases there is an increase of 16 from yesterday. 2556 people have tested negative in the county Zero additional deaths are being reported as the County is still at to 78.

In the 3 nursing homes that are reporting positive cases in the county are at 339 positive cases. Up 15 from yesterday. Employee cases are at 25, an increase of 2 and the death toll is at 71.

“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.”

There are 244,171 patients who have tested negative to date. Of the patients who have tested positive to date the age breakdown is as follows:

• Nearly 1% are aged 0-4;
• Nearly 1% are aged 5-12;
• 1% are aged 13-18;
• Nearly 6% are aged 19-24;
• Nearly 37% are aged 25-49;
• 26% are aged 50-64; and
• 28% are aged 65 or older.

Most of the patients hospitalized are aged 65 or older, and most of the deaths have occurred in patients 65 or older. More data is available here.

In nursing and personal care homes, there are 12,408 resident cases of COVID-19, and 1,806 cases among employees, for a total of 14,214 at 543 distinct facilities in 44 counties. Out of our total deaths, 2,705 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities. A county breakdown can be found here.

Approximately 4,066 of our total cases are in health care workers.

For the latest information for individuals, families, businesses and schools, visit “Responding to COVID-19” on pa.gov.

Non-life-sustaining businesses in the red phase are ordered to be closed and schools are closed statewide through the remainder of the academic year. Currently, 24 counties are in the yellow phase of reopening; 13 more will move to the yellow phase on May 15.

Wall Street sinks again as worries about economy weigh
By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer
Stocks are falling in another erratic day of trading on Wall Street Wednesday. The market has been wavering the last couple weeks after coming off its best month in a generation, as optimism about reopening the economy collides with worries about the dangers of lifting restrictions too soon. The S&P 500 was down 2.3% in afternoon trading with the sharpest losses coming for stocks that most need a healthy economy for their profits to grow. Trading was volatile, and the index went quickly from an early loss of 1.1% to a gain of 0.1% and back to more losses.

Wall Street is falling in another erratic day of trading Wednesday, weighed down by worries about a slow recovery for the economy.
The market has been wavering the last couple weeks after coming off its best month in a generation, as optimism about reopening the economy collides with worries about the dangers of lifting restrictions too soon.
The S&P 500 was down 2.3%, as of 12:18 p.m. Eastern time, with the sharpest losses coming for stocks that most need a healthy economy for their profits to grow. Trading was volatile, and the index went from an early loss of 1.1% to a gain of 0.1% and back to more losses, all in the span of 90 minutes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 576 points, or 2.4%, at 23,188, and the Nasdaq composite was down 2.6%.
Treasury yields were also lower in another sign of pessimism about the economy and inflation, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned about the threat of a prolonged recession. He said the U.S. government may need to pump even more aid into the economy, which is bleeding millions of jobs every week.
But Powell also said that the Fed is not considering taking interest rates below zero, as some investors have been speculating recently.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 0.64% from 0.69% late Tuesday.
Oil companies and other energy producers had the sharpest losses in the S&P 500, down 4.7%. Financial stocks were also among the market’s weakest, down 3.5%. Those two areas of the market have been some of this year’s biggest losers this year on expectations that a coronavirus-ravaged economy will mean less demand for oil and more defaults on loans.
Earlier in the day, strength for technology stocks had helped to steady the market momentarily. Tech stocks have been among the market’s few clear winners this year, as investors pile into companies that can make money regardless of whether people are hunkering at home in hopes of containing the virus. .
The volatile day echoes Tuesday’s action, when the S&P 500 was close to flat for much of the day before a sudden slide in the last hour of trading left it down 2.1%.
Analysts say they expect the market to remain in a wait-and-see approach for weeks as investors gauge how economic reopenings underway in areas around the world are going. Many countries and U.S. states have begun lifting restrictions on businesses that were meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak but have also sent the economy into a severe recession.
Hope that the reopenings will allow growth to resume later this year have helped drive the S&P 500 up 26% since late March, but worries have been rising recently that premature liftings of lockdowns will cause resurgent waves of infections.
On Tuesday, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned that if the economy reopens too soon, it could cause a backtrack in the “road to try to get economic recovery.”
In China, where the virus first surfaced, authorities announced seven new cases on Wednesday. Six were in Jilin province, in the northeast, where alert levels were raised and rail connections suspended. South Korea reported 26 additional cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours amid a new spike in infections linked to nightclubs in Seoul.
Worries about a resumption in trade tensions between the United States and China have also weighed on markets around the world recently.
If Wednesday’s loss holds, it will be the first back-to-back loss of 2% for the S&P 500 since its rally began on March 24.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX lost 2.6%, and France’s CAC 40 dropped 2.9%. The FTSE 100 in London lost 1.5%.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.5%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.3% and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9%.
A barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June fell 1.2% to $25.48 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 1.6% to $29.51 per barrel.
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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.