Gov. Tom Wolf “not satisfied” with performance of overwhelmed unemployment compensation system.
by PublicSource Reporters
With more than 1.5 million Pennsylvanians having filed unemployment claims since March 15, the state faces a backlog 15 times greater than it has ever had, Gov. Tom Wolf said in a teleconference with reporters on Thursday, April 23.
“I’m not making excuses,” said Wolf, noting the Department of Labor and Industry is working to turn things around. Wolf added, “I’m not satisfied with where we are and neither is anybody at Labor and Industry.”
Wolf’s comments came a day after he described criteria he intends to use to permit the state’s businesses to reopen, region by region. The comments also came as the coronavirus case count continued to climb, but the death count was revised downward. Allegheny County reported 61 new confirmed or probable cases of the new coronavirus on Thursday, April 23. The increase is driven by a batch of results from tests that were conducted over several days.
The new cases bring the county’s total to 1,149.
The county death toll has been revised to 69, which removes five deaths the county said were duplicates. The death tally includes 62 people in whom coronavirus infection was confirmed via a test and seven in which there was no test but the virus is believed to be the cause.
The county reported eight new hospitalizations for the disease, bringing the total of past or present hospitalizations to 204.
The state reported 1,369 additional COVID-19 cases. That’s a total of 37,053 confirmed and probable cases of the coronavirus. The state reported 1,421 confirmed and probable deaths, lowering the fatality tally by 201. State Department of Health officials are expected to discuss the change in the death count at an afternoon press conference.
A person wears a full face respirator and gloves in the Strip District on April 11. (Photo by Kimberly Rowen/PublicSource)
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Allegheny County, Pennsylvania reduce coronavirus death tallies, citing duplicates
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