Governor Tom Wolf announced in his daily video conference last week that 24 largely rural counties will find restrictions loosened as part of his color-coded reopening plan Friday. Though that has no immediate effect on the A-B-E area, analysis of the results will inform how the administration will reopen the rest of the state.

Throughout it all, he cautions Pennsylvanians to make good choices. “Please continue to limit physical gatherings … and distancing as much as possible.”

As for details, Wolf explained, “Moving from the Red phase to the Yellow phase will have many businesses and other activities reopening with re-engineered business models. But they must proceed with the underlying message; proceed with caution. The Yellow phase recognizes that outbreaks of COVID-19 are still possible and operations that cannot allow for social distancing must remain closed. This includes gyms, theaters, casinos restaurant dining rooms and school buildings.”

State Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said monitoring the results of reopening in the coming weeks is intrinsic to further procedures. Teams of administrators, health workers and epidemiologists, whom she called ‘disease detectives,’ will be coordinating the Department of Community and Economic Development, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, health networks, companies and others, to conduct contact tracing and practice reacting in these low-population counties before the major population centers are re-opened.

Contact tracing is a method of interviewing and monitoring someone who has contracted a virus, retracing their steps, and immediately following up with everyone that person may have exposed. These methods were developed years ago in Africa, most successfully during the Ebola outbreak.

As of Monday, the state has 49,267 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,444 deaths. Lehigh County has 2,924 confirmed and 83 deaths; Northampton County has 2,214 confirmed and 94 deaths; the city of Bethlehem has 548 confirmed – amounting to about 22 percent of those tested – and 18 deaths.