Concerns about the novel coronavirus started sweeping through Beaver County in early March, before a single case was reported in Pennsylvania. But rumblings about the virus that had crippled Italy, China and other countries overseas were just that.
"I didn't know what to expect," said Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning. "I'd been reading the news, reading articles about another flu-like pandemic occurring. I asked what our pandemic plan was, and everyone looked at me like I had a third eye."
Allegheny County officials had declared sweeping closures and mandates after the first cases were detected in the county, asking businesses to shut down for two weeks while state officials ordered a stop to eat-in dining. Beaver County officials were holding firm — no extra restrictions in place, other than a state-mandated shutdown of all schools.
Until March 16.
That's when county officials received word of the county's first case — an Aliquippa School District employee who would be the first of nearly 1,800 Beaver County residents to test positive for the virus.
In the six months since that night, businesses have closed and reopened. Masks have become a way of life, and social distancing has made hugs a rarity and turned high fives and handshakes into elbow bumps.
The pandemic has caused shutdowns and cancellations, a spike in opioid overdoses and a decrease in emergency room visits for routine ailments.
Nursing homes, designed to care for and help some of the most vulnerable of the county's aging population, became the epicenter of the pandemic, with nearly 600 residents testing positive for the virus and more than 100 dying.
Beaver County has seen a spike and a valley in cases, according to state data.
Public health officials suggest looking at percent positivity and incidence rate per 100,000 residents to understand how pervasive the virus is in a community, rather than raw numbers. Beaver County is considered to have a moderate community spread, based on weekly case numbers.
The 30-day average percent of tests that were positive was 8.2 percent in March, at the start of the pandemic. That grew to 19.3 percent in April, when hundreds of residents at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Brighton Township — the former county-owned Friendship Ridge nursing home — tested positive in the largest nursing home outbreak in the state. The state spent most of April in a full shutdown, with restaurants only being allowed to serve take-out meals and the majority of businesses shuttered if they were considered non-essential.
The prevalence of the virus began to drop in May, when there was an average percent positivity of 9.6 percent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers a region to have control of community spread if the percent positivity rate drops below 5 percent.
Beaver County did just that in June, when the county had 79 new cases the entire month for a rate of 3.3 percent. But as people let their guard down and began to disregard the social distancing and mask-wearing that public health research from across the world showed was effective in slowing the virus in other countries. In July, Beaver County saw a percent positivity of 9.4 percent, a number that dropped slightly to 7 percent in August.
Now, halfway through September and six months after that first case, Beaver County has an average percent positivity rate of 7 percent this month.
Manning said what became problematic was when politics outweighed science for many residents.
"The problem was when it became so politicized that you couldn't get key compliance from some of our residents, and I don't know how much we've progressed in that area," Manning said. "Everyone says social distancing and masks work. But you see a lot of noncompliance and push back on those two things. With schools going back, there's even more vitriol about it."
While Brighton Rehab has been COVID-free since mid-June, other outbreaks are happening at county nursing homes. All six facilities have had at least one resident and one staff member test positive and two facilities — Providence Care Center in Beaver Falls and Beaver Valley Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in South Beaver Township — have current outbreaks.
Several school district sports teams have had smaller outbreaks, with Beaver Area, Ambridge Area and Blackhawk canceling sports practices last month after student-athletes tested positive.
After suspending construction in March, Shell Chemicals brought back thousands of workers to the plant and last month had its own smaller outbreak of the virus with a total of 41 workers testing positive.
State health officials said they have monitored the peaks and valleys in Beaver County's cases and have discussed mitigation measures throughout the summer. A statewide move to limit indoor dining and curtail large gatherings slowed the spread of the virus throughout the state again.
Manning said it's imperative that Beaver County residents consider following mitigation efforts to stop the virus that, as of Tuesday, has killed 110 of its residents in six months.
He recalled how Dr. Neil Capretto, the former medical director of Gateway Rehabilitation, compared the 2016 opioid overdose crisis to a serial killer and made a similar comparison to today's public health crisis.
"We had 102 overdose deaths a couple of years ago and did everything we could to manage to knock that back," Manning said. "I remember talking to Dr. Capretto at that time and he said if we had a serial killer walking the street and he killed 102 people, we'd be doing everything in our power to stop him.
"Well, we still have a serial killer out there, and it's killed 110 people in the county. We aren't doing everything we can to stop it because it's become so politicized."
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