PITTSBURGH, PA (April 16, 2020) — Allegheny Health Network (AHN) today announced another significant step in the organization’s efforts to assure that frontline caregivers in its hospitals have the personal protective equipment they need to help prevent exposure to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) during the current pandemic.  AHN has partnered with MSA Safety (NYSE: MSA) to secure a shipment of P100 industrial grade respirators that can be disinfected and reused repeatedly.

The Advantage® 200 LS Respirator from MSA – which filters out nearly 100 percent of airborne particulates – is a mask not typically used in health care settings.  However, because of the scarcity of disposable respirator masks caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, AHN has been working to identify options to mitigate the effects of the disposable mask shortage.  This effort comes after the FDA and CDC recently issued guidance that NIOSH-approved elastomeric respirators can complement a hospital’s PPE stockpile and serve as a viable alternative to N95 disposable masks.

Designed for reuse, the Advantage 200 Respirator is a half-mask, tight-fitting face piece that covers a person’s nose and mouth, and comes equipped with twin removable filter cartridges.  The masks will be disinfected between uses by AHN’s sterilization technicians.

AHN caregivers began using the Advantage 200 masks this week.  Last week, AHN also launched a unique mask sterilization and re-use program that will allow N95 masks to be used up to three times. The new P100 respirators, combined with AHN’s ability to sterilize and reuse disposable N95 masks, significantly expands the network’s supply of PPE as it prepares for a potential surge of COVID-19 patients across the western Pennsylvania region.

“When it comes to the personal protective equipment that keeps caregivers safe, our goal is for AHN to be as self-sustaining as possible while not compromising the safety of our caregivers and patients,” said Sri Chalikonda, MD, AHN’s Chief Medical Operations Officer. “We want our clinical teams to be 100-percent focused on the care of our patients with full confidence that they have the PPE they need to do their jobs at this critical time.

The Advantage® 200 LS Respirator masks will be used by the same frontline AHN staff that are now wearing N95 masks – including ICU and emergency department clinicians, or any caregiver working with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 positive patients.

“MSA recognizes that fighting the spread of COVID-19 requires an all-hands-on-deck approach,” said Steve Blanco, President of MSA’s Americas business segment.  “We are pleased to be working alongside AHN and other leading health care providers to explore and deliver PPE solutions that are helping communities better respond to this unprecedented challenge.”

PITTSBURGH, April 16, 2020 – Domino’s and its nationwide system of franchisees are banding together during this unprecedented crisis to do something they already do well every day: feed people pizza. Domino’s locally-owned stores throughout Greater Pittsburgh will donate 7,600 pizzas within their local communities, starting this week.

“We realize that there is a great deal of hardship and uncertainty at this time,” said Sheldon Port, a Pittsburgh-area Domino’s franchisee. “Domino’s wants to do whatever it can to help, and that means spreading a little bit of joy through pizza.”

Nearly 40 Domino’s stores throughout the Greater Pittsburgh area will each donate 200 pizzas as part of this national effort, so that hospitals and medical centers, schoolkids and their families, health departments, grocery store workers, and others in need can enjoy a hot, delicious pizza.

“We want to show how much we appreciate and support those who are in need of a hot meal, and those who are on the frontline, working to save lives,” said Port. “We hope that this simple act will bring a small sense of normalcy and a smile to their faces.”

Together, Domino’s stores nationwide will donate more than 1.2 million pizzas, or about 10 million slices, across their communities. To read about how Domino’s franchisees and team members are giving back in their local neighborhoods, visit biz.dominos.com/web/media/stories.

 

 

Wolf backs states’ call for $500B in additional federal aid
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf has written to President Donald Trump to back calls from other leading governors for another $500 billion in federal aid for states fighting the spread of the coronavirus. Wolf says he’s projecting a budget deficit of up to $5 billion. The letter, dated Wednesday, was issued with two other Democratic governors, Tony Evers of Wisconsin and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. In the letter, they acknowledge that the federal government is making an initial $71 billion available to meet some immediate cash flow needs of state and local governments. But, they write, “the magnitude of the crushing economic impact this virus has had on our states and residents cannot be overstated.”

Nurses suspended for refusing COVID-19 care without N95 mask
By MARTHA MENDOZA and KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press
Ten nurses have been suspended from their jobs at a Santa Monica, California, hospital after refusing to care for COVID-19 patients without being provided protective N95 face masks. One of those nurses, Mike Gulick, says the decision was heart-wrenching but after a colleague tested positive for the infection he felt he had to take a stand. Other nurses Tuesday protested what they said was inadequate personal protective equipment at a hospital in Fresno, California, where 10 nurses have tested positive for the new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.

Police: Dispute aboard bus ends with man shooting 3 teens
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities say a fight aboard a bus traveling in Philadelphia ended with a man shooting three teenage boys in their legs. The 24-year-old shooter was sitting in the back of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority bus early Thursday when authorities say he was approached by two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old. The four began arguing and the dispute soon turned physical. The man, who authorities say had a concealed weapons permit, then shot the youths. The man, who claimed he acted in self-defense, was not seriously injured. The bus driver and a few other passengers aboard the bus were not injured.

US unemployment applications are set to shoot up again
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is poised Thursday to announce the latest alarming report on the layoffs that have been sweeping across the economy since the coronavirus outbreak struck hard last month. Several million more people are expected to have filed for unemployment benefits last week, after nearly 17 million applied for aid in the previous three weeks. It is the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record. All businesses deemed nonessential have been closed in 48 states as the economy has essentially shut down. Some economists say the unemployment rate could reach as high as 20% in April, which would be the highest rate since the Great Depression.

(Potter Twp.) Shell has no plans to fully restart production of The Shell Cracker Plant during the COVID-19 crisis but at least 500 Shell Chemicals workers will be back at Potter Twp.  ethane cracker plant by next week. An additional 200 employees will return gradually over the next week to join the roughly 300 workers already tasked with repairing and maintaining the petrochemical complex. More could return in the coming weeks. March 18, Shell temporarily suspended construction activities at Potter Township’s ethane cracker plant to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 amid public pressure.

An estimated 80 million Americans have had a stimulus payment deposited into their checking accounts yesterday. It’s part of the economic stimulus plan passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last month.

If you filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return and provided your banking information the money was deposited to your bank account. If you receive Social Security the money was deposited to the account that you receive your Social Security through. If you have checked your account and did not find a deposit, you can go to the newly launched IRS website called “Get my payment” to see the status of your payment.

A person who did not have to pay income tax or does not receive Social Security benefits can go to this Internal Revenue website tool and click on “Non-filers: Enter Payment Info Here” to submit direct deposit account information to receive a payment, according to Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin.

(Rochester, Pa.) Giant Eagle Inc. has said that a second Beaver County store employee has tested positive for COVID-19.

The affected employee worked at the Rochester location on W. Madison Street in Rochester. Giant Eagle said the employee last worked on April 6 and the store has since been sanitized and is now open for shoppers.

The first Beaver County Giant Eagle employee that Giant Eagle reported last week worked at the Chippewa Giant Eagle on Constitution Blvd in Chippewa. The employee last worked on March 30 and had been quarantined since

Giant Eagle is limiting the number of customers allowed to shop in each store at one time up to 50 percent of occupancy allowed by Fire code and have one-way signs directing shoppers and encouraging social distancing  to help protect shoppers and staff from COVID-19 exposure.

 Health Secretary Signs Order Providing Worker Safety Measures to Combat COVID-19

Harrisburg, PA – Governor Tom Wolf announced today that Dr. Rachel Levine, under her authority as Secretary of the Department of Health to take any disease control measure appropriate to protect the public from the spread of infectious disease, signed an order directing protections for critical workers who are employed at businesses that are authorized to maintain in-person operations during the COVID-19 disaster emergency.

“This order provides critical protections for the workers needed to run and operate these life-sustaining establishments,” Governor Wolf said. “Businesses across the state have already begun to implement many of these protocols on their own, and we applaud their efforts to protect employees and customers.”

“This order will ensure continuity across all life-sustaining businesses and will further our efforts to protect the health and safety of all Pennsylvanians,” Dr. Levine said. “Together, we can all help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”

The order establishes protocols to help employees maintain a social distance during work:

• Provide masks for employees to wear during their time at the business, and make it a mandatory requirement while at the work site, except to the extent an employee is using break time to eat or drink, in accordance with the guidance from the Department of Health and the CDC. Employers may approve masks obtained or made by employees in accordance with this guidance;
• Stagger work start and stop times for employees when practical to prevent gatherings of large groups entering or leaving the premises at the same time;
• Provide sufficient space for employees to have breaks and meals while maintaining a social distance of 6 feet, including limiting the number of employees in common areas and setting up seating to have employees facing forward and not across from each other;
• Conduct meetings and training virtually. If a meeting must be held in person, limit the meeting to the fewest number of employees possible, not to exceed 10 employees at one time and maintain a social distance of 6 feet.
• Ensure that the facility has a sufficient number of employees to perform all measures listed effectively and in a manner that ensures the safety of the public and employees;
• Ensure that the facility has a sufficient number of personnel to control access, maintain order, and enforce social distancing of at least 6 feet;
• Prohibit non-essential visitors from entering the premises of the business; and
• Ensure that all employees who do not speak English as their first language are aware of procedures by communicating the procedures, either orally or in writing, in their native or preferred language.

Upon discovery of an exposure to a person who is a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19, businesses are also ordered to implement temperature screenings before employees enter the business prior to the start of work and send any employee home who has an elevated temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Sick employees should follow CDC-recommended steps. Employees should not return to work until the CDC criteria to discontinue home isolation are met, in consultation with the health care providers and state and local health departments. Employers are encouraged to implement liberal paid time off for employees who are on home isolation.

Upon an exposure, businesses are also ordered to do the following:

• Close off and ventilate areas visited by that individual;
• Wait a minimum of 24 hours, or as long as practical, before beginning cleaning and disinfection;
• Clean and disinfect all spaces, especially commonly used rooms and shared electronic equipment;
• Identify and notify employees who were in close contact with that individual (within about 6 feet for about 10 minutes); and
• Ensure that the business has a sufficient number of employees to perform these protocols effectively and immediately.

In addition to the social distancing, mitigation and cleaning protocols, businesses that serve the public within a building or defined area are ordered to implement the following, based on the size of the building and number of employees:

• Require all customers to wear masks while on premises, and deny entry to individuals not wearing masks, unless the business is providing medication, medical supplies, or food, in which case the business must provide alternative methods of pick-up or delivery of goods, except individuals who cannot wear a mask due to a medical condition (including children the age of 2 years) may enter the premises without having to provide medical documentation;
• Conduct business with the public by appointment only and, to the extent that this is not feasible, limit occupancy to no greater than 50 percent of the number stated on their certificate of occupancy as necessary to reduce crowding in the business and at check-out and counter lines in order to maintain a social distance of 6 feet, and place signage throughout each site to mandate social distancing for both customers and employees;
• Alter hours of business so that the business has sufficient time to clean or to restock or both;
• Install shields or other barriers at registers and check-out areas to physically separate cashiers and customers or take other measures to ensure social distancing of customers from check-out personnel, or close lines to maintain a social distance between of 6 feet between lines;
• Encourage use of online ordering by providing delivery or outside pick-up;
• Designate a specific time for high-risk and elderly persons to use the business at least once every week if there is a continuing in-person customer-facing component;
• In businesses with multiple check-out lines, only use every other register, or fewer. After every hour, rotate customers and employees to the previously closed registers. Clean the previously open registers and the surrounding area, including credit card machines, following each rotation;
• Schedule handwashing breaks for employees at least every hour; and
• Where carts and handbaskets are available, assign an employee to wipe down carts and handbaskets before they become available to a new customer.

Failure to comply with these requirements will result in enforcement action that could include citations, fines, or license suspensions. Compliance with the order will be enforced beginning Sunday, April 19 at 8:00 PM.

The governor has directed the following state agencies and local officials to enforce orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic to the full extent of the law:

• Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board
• Department of Health
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Labor and Industry
• Pennsylvania State Police
• Local officials, using their resources to enforce closure orders within their jurisdictions

“It is vital that we require businesses to practice these common-sense and scientifically proven safety protocols for the protection of workers and the public at-large. And that is what this order does,” said state Senator Tina Tartaglione, Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee. “Many of the measures included in this order were part of legislation that I proposed. I applaud this swift action by Secretary Levine and Governor Wolf to implement these much needed protocols.”

This order follows another order by Dr. Levine providing direction for maintaining and cleaning buildings for businesses authorized to maintain in-person operations under her and Governor Tom Wolf’s life-sustaining business orders announced March 19.

Governor Tom Wolf also recommends that Pennsylvanians wear a mask any time they leave their homes for life-sustaining reasons.