Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf noted that research confirms the importance of wearing masks to stop the spread of COVID-19 and that Pennsylvanians are required to wear masks when entering any business in all counties in both yellow and green phases of reopening.

The mask requirement is part of Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel’s Levine’s order, “Directing Public Health Safety Measures for Businesses Permitted to Maintain In-person Operations,” which pertains to all counties regardless of the phase of reopening. The order requires businesses to enforce mask-wearing unless someone has an underlying health condition that prevents them from wearing a mask. Children two or younger are not required to wear masks.

According to a recent study in the Institute of Physics, wearing simple medical masks or improvised facial coverings reduces community exposures from asymptomatic, but unknowingly infectious, individuals.

The study concludes that while people may perceive them to be ineffective or burdensome to wear, “wearing some form of exhaled barrier (mask) out in public during pathogen outbreaks is an altruistic act serving not only as a form of enhanced cough or sneeze etiquette, but also to reduce the aerosols emitted from normal breathing or when talking. Without daily testing, nobody can be certain that they are not an asymptotic disease vector. Scientifically, this is a positive step towards helping combat the current COVID-19 pandemic.”

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams took to twitter on Sunday to advise that mask-wearing is contributing to and not infringing on freedom, tweeting in part, “Some feel face coverings infringe on their freedom of choice- but if more wear them, we’ll have MORE freedom to go out.”

In addition to mask wearing, Gov. Wolf and Sec. of Health Dr. Rachel Levine have advised that robust testing and contact tracing in green counties are keys to safe, phased reopening

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is thanking food banks, farmers, volunteers and others across the state for helping to feed Pennsylvania families during the pandemic. Today, the governor visited the York County Food Bank’s East York Emergency Food Hub, which provides groceries to approximately 2,000 families each Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The York County Food Bank has provided 2.4 million meals and volunteers donated more than 4,000 hours at drive-thru, walk-thru and pop-up distribution at locations throughout the county since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

The Wolf Administration has invested in several initiatives to address food insecurity, including $50 million through the USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box program to purchase surplus milk and other dairy products, chicken, pork and fresh produce from Pennsylvania farmers who lost markets for their products because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and $40 million in funding through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to support Pennsylvania’s dairy industry and food security programs, following months of uncertainty and loss from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, $15 million will provide an opportunity for dairy farmers to receive direct relief payments and $5 million will go to reimburse farmers donating dairy products through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PASS). This Department of Agriculture program helps food producers donate safe food to food banks and be reimbursed for harvesting, processing, packaging and transporting costs of donated food.

An additional $15 million will be used for cash grants to counties for the purchase and distribution of food to low income individuals through the State Food Purchase Program and $5 million will go to the PASS program to reimburse the agricultural industry for the costs involved in harvesting, processing, packaging and transporting food that they donate to the charitable food system.

Visitors to food banks can get groceries through June 25 without providing financial eligibility under the Disaster Household Distribution program, through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). The Department of Agriculture estimates that in 2020, $80 million in food will be distributed through Pennsylvania’s charitable food system in all 67 counties, using the state’s allocation of federal TEFAP funds. More food security resources are available here.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) provides details on how St. James Parish Hospital in Lutcher, Louisiana worked with local government and community partners to prepare for COVID-19. Find more information here.

In addition to the June 2020 report, MACPAC also recently published a catalog providing high level, state-specific information on telehealth policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic pertaining to services and specialties, providers, modalities, originating site and licensure rules, and payment. Read more here.

On June 12, CMS added a new item to its list of emergency declaration waivers that provide the health care community with the flexibilities needed to care for patients during the COVID-19 public health emergency.  In the latest update, CMS is waiving the July 1 submission deadline for new Medicare GME affiliation agreements and the June 30 deadline for amendments of existing Medicare GME affiliation agreements (page 9). Find more information here. For information on rural graduate medical education more broadly, HRSA-funded resources are available from RuralGME.org.

HHS recently published a one-page summary document providing general information on the different Provider Relief Fund distributions. This includes a timeline of funding along with information on eligibility and formulas used to make distributions. Read more here.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assessed the impact of the pandemic on pediatric vaccinations and found a noticeable decline beginning in the week after the national emergency declaration.  To help remind parents and caregivers of the need to protect children from preventable disease such as measles, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will be releasing social media messages with the hashtag #WellChildWednesdays.  Messages will address well visits, immunizations, adolescent and young adult care, and nutrition, safety, and mental health as topics to be discussed with pediatric providers.

Cases of domestic violence, child abuse and sexual exploitation in the time of COVID-19 appear to have risen in emergency rooms and health clinics across the country since March. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has published a 4-page document entitled Intimate Partner Violence and Child Abuse Considerations During COVID-19 with hyperlinks to relevant SAMHSA and non-SAMHSA resources.  If you would like to view the HRSA webinar on this subject, access the recording by registering with this link. This will redirect you to the recording where you can watch the full session and download the slide presentation and resources shared. For audio replay, please use the line 866-360-7719, with passcode 52020. Read more here.

As of Tuesday, the death toll in the U.S. from the coronavirus surpassed 116,700, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, a count roughly 200 more than the 116,516 U.S. service members who died in World War I, according to Department of Veterans Affairs data. Deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. had already topped all U.S. deaths from every war since the 1950 start of the Korean War. And deaths from COVID-19 already surpassed those from the 1968 pandemic, which claimed 100,000 lives.