Commissioners Hoping County Will Make the Cut for a Phased-in Reopening

LOCK HAVEN – The Clinton County Commissioners are hopeful the county on Friday will receive a state go-ahead with a phased-in reopening as of May 8. But based on a recent story on the increase of COVID-19 cases in the county, they’re not sure.

Board chairman Miles Kessinger, at Thursday’s virtual commissioners meeting, said it is the county’s understanding that Gov. Wolf will announce Friday morning which north-central Pennsylvania counties will be given the okay to relax some quarantine restrictions as of May 8. But the commissioners indicated they were taken aback by a story Wednesday on northcentralpa.com which said the county has the fastest rising rate of virus cases in the state.

The story said at 44 people per square mile, that while the county is among the most sparsely populated in the state, its rate of cases is doubling every 5.5 days, according to data from the New York Times as of April 29. It quotes a Johns Hopkins expert who said the county’s steeper growth rate could be “simply…the virus hit the area later than the rest of the state.” He said disease trends over a longer time will provide more information.

Clinton County had 30 confirmed cases as of Wednesday of this week, its first case reported April 3.

Kessinger said, “Unfortunately,” the story pointed out Clinton County” has the fastest rising number of cases in the state, doubling every five-and-a-half days.” He said the article raised several issues, including the amount of testing. He expressed concern that one county resident had to go to Wilkes-Barre to be tested, a situation he called “completely unacceptable.”

In the meantime, the board chairman said, county residents should continue to wear masks in public and “do what you have to do;” otherwise, he and fellow commissioners Angela Harding and Jeff Snyder said, Clinton County will not make the initial re-opening list. Snyder called for increased local testing.