Economic Development Official Hopeful Clinton Part of New State Reopening Plan

LOCK HAVEN – Gov. Tom Wolf, as of Thursday afternoon, had not specifically said which north-central and northwestern Pennsylvania counties will be part of the state’s May 8 targeted reopening plan in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mike Flanagan, president and CEO of the Clinton County Economic Partnership, said his office has received no formal word yet, but the Partnership is hopeful:

“We don’t officially know that we are in the north-central area, but we are assuming we are, especially with the relatively low confirmed case count as of yesterday, April 22. Also, we were part of the last 10 or 12 counties to get a stay at home order on or around March 17. Being part of the last group may mean being part of the first group to open, but again we don’t have anything official.”

He added, “If we do get the go ahead, we certainly look forward to moving into the yellow phase on May 8 and having some of the restrictions, but not all, lifted. We think it is important that construction can get started May 1 and follow all the health guidelines. We look forward to the day that we get into the green phase and the new normal kicks in. The sooner the better for some of struggling businesses. But, we all have to work together in order to achieve that level. We need to stay safe.”

Gov. Wolf Wednesday night presented his detailed plan for reopening the commonwealth with a targeted May 8 start. The administration will categorize reopening into three phases: red, yellow, green. Phases will be assigned based on conditions in a county, counties or region.

The administration will first study conditions in the north-central and northwest regions with a target of moving from red to yellow on the May 8 date. There is a target of fewer than 50 positive cases of the virus per 100,000 residents for 14 days. Many north-central counties have relatively few cases, Clinton County with 14 cases as of Thursday. The county population is over 38,000.