Berks County was notified today through Governor Wolf’s office that Berks County will be moved to yellow effective June 5th. Berks County is working with our healthcare partners and business leaders to make certain Berks is ready for yellow on June 5th.
This first step of going to yellow moves us toward the goal of opening all businesses in Berks County responsibly and safely.
“Berks County is working with our healthcare partners and business leaders to make certain Berks is ready for yellow on June 5th,” stated Commissioner Christian Leinbach.
The commissioners said they understand how hard this has been for business owners, employees and residents of Berks and have acknowledged that this is a step in the right direction.
The commissioners say this is not the time to let down our guard. “We need the people of Berks County to continue to do the right things to protect themselves and the people around them. This is especially true of those that are most vulnerable and that is the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.”
The commissioners are directing people to resources available at DoYourPartBerks.com
Counties that remain in red on May 29 and are expected to move to yellow by June 5 include Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Northampton, Montgomery, and Philadelphia.
“We know not only that we succeeded in slowing case growth, but that our actions, our collective decisions to stay at home and avoid social contact – we know that saved lives,” Gov. Wolf said. “My stay-at-home order did exactly what it was intended to do: It saved lives and it bought us valuable time.”
“We continue to increase testing every day and are continuing to build our contact tracing capacity, as well,” Gov. Wolf said. “We are able to do these things, to be successful, to reopen in this manner because of the Pennsylvanians who have made tremendous sacrifices since the virus emerged in our state,” Gov Wolf said.
The commissiners say they will specifically address preparing for Berks “Going to Yellow” at the weekly county press conference, Wednesday, May 27th at 3:30pm. The press conference will be stream live on Berks Weekly and the Berks Weekly Facebook page.