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N.J. releases metrics for lifting lockdown for nursing homes; Sesame Place worker punched by patron over mask requirement

Cheyney University has resumed in-person classes amid safety concerns from some faculty. The Central Bucks School District has changed course and will start the academic year virtually.

Sesame Place, which has reopened, requires guests ages 2 and up to wear masks. Abby and Elmo (pictured) don't have to.
Sesame Place, which has reopened, requires guests ages 2 and up to wear masks. Abby and Elmo (pictured) don't have to.Read morePhoto courtesy of Sesame Place

Over the last five months, nearly 1,700 Philadelphians have died because of the coronavirus, more than 30,000 have tested positive for infection, and tens of thousands have lost their sources of income as the pandemic has raged.

But the city has made progress in fighting the virus, officials said Monday, with recent decreases in case counts and test positivity rates.

“This progress is based on Philadelphia residents doing the right thing, especially wearing masks and keeping a distance from others,” Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said in a news release. “If we all continue to do that consistently, the next five months will be much better than the last.”

Some continued to ignore such advice: A man visiting Sesame Place in Bucks County punched a 17-year-old employee in the face on Sunday after the worker reminded him of the amusement park’s mask requirement, sending the teen to the hospital for surgery, police said.

The worker had encountered the patron and his female companion earlier in the day and had told them that they had to wear face masks in the park. When the man later saw the employee working at the Captain Cookie’s High C’s Adventure ride, he punched him, said Detective Lt. Steve Forman of Middletown Township police.

Middletown police were working with New York authorities to identify the pair, who drove off in a New York-registered car, Forman said.

The employee required jaw surgery on Monday, police said. A Sesame Place spokesperson said the park was in contact with his family and was “hopeful for a full and speedy recovery.”

» READ MORE: Teenage Sesame Place employee punched over mask-wearing requirement

In New Jersey, which reported 258 new virus cases Monday, young people without masks stood in packed lines for beach bars in Monmouth and Ocean Counties over the weekend. And unmasked members of President Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster were photographed crowded together indoors to watch his news conference on Saturday.

“Standing around mask-less in a crowd outside a bar is just as big a knucklehead move as standing around mask-less inside one,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said. Of Trump’s club, he added, “Any pictures of people inside and on top of each other without wearing face coverings should concern us all.”

On Monday, Murphy’s administration released mandatory benchmarks that the state’s long-term-care facilities must meet to again allow visitors and resume group dining and other activities.

The directive lays out four phases of reopening that will gradually permit residents to have more socialization. Facilities must meet required metrics for virus case numbers, staffing, testing, personal protective equipment, and outbreak planning, said Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. The state will put $155 million in state and federal funds toward the effort.

And residents at all facilities who do not have the coronavirus are now allowed to be visited by an “essential caregiver” at least once a week, Persichilli said.

“Contact with family, friends, and fellow residents is essential for the emotional well-being of nursing home residents,” she said.

Pennsylvania reported 601 new virus cases Monday. Gov. Tom Wolf said nearly 5,000 small businesses have received financial aid from the state, which has awarded $96 million in grant money. Business owners can apply for a second round of funding through the state’s website until Aug. 28. Owners who previously applied but did not receive a grant will automatically be considered.

Philadelphia reported 319 new cases Monday, representing three days of reported lab results. Last week, city health officials said that new cases of the virus were decreasing in the city as daily case counts were slightly over 100 per day. City trash collection will be delayed by one day this week, officials said, as Philadelphia continues to struggle with removing garbage amid the pandemic.

Under pressure to give schools more guidance about how to safely reopen, Wolf’s administration on Monday issued recommendations to school districts identifying different thresholds for instruction based on local rates of coronavirus transmission.

The guidance places Philadelphia and the surrounding suburban counties in a “moderate” range — meaning either a fully remote program or a “blended” learning model that includes six feet of social distancing during in-person instruction is recommended. Many districts in the region have already announced plans that fall into those categories.

One of Pennsylvania’s largest districts, Central Bucks, will begin the academic year virtually, school officials said Monday.

The district had planned to offer families the choice of a traditional in-person program, a hybrid approach that would bring students into classrooms part-time, and a fully virtual option. But school officials realized the district didn’t have enough teachers to staff the various options, according to Superintendent John Kopicki.

He said the district would operate virtually through Nov. 11 while continuing to evaluate staffing and possible solutions. Most families in the district, which enrolls 18,000 students, had previously selected either full in-person or hybrid learning for their students.

Central Bucks had previously planned to open and provide a minimum of three feet of social distance in schools, as recommended by Bucks County health officials — a standard that drew fire last week from the state’s largest teachers’ union.

» READ MORE: A growing number of Philly-area school districts are planning virtual openings, relieving some parents and frustrating others

Social distancing rules were in place in classrooms at Cheyney University on Monday as it became one of the first colleges in the region to hold in-person classes. With its 683 students set to receive both face-to-face and online instruction, Cheyney has in place on-campus screening measures and other plans aimed at protecting student and employee health and safety.

But the university’s faculty Senate expressed concern about the health risk of teaching in the classroom and called for the university to permit all instructors to teach online.

“It is not necessary to put faculty at risk when we can just as easily all deliver instruction remotely,” Ivan Turnipseed, chair of the faculty Senate, said Monday. “People could end up getting sick or far, far, far worse.”

The university, which straddles a border shared by Chester and Delaware Counties, said in a statement that all faculty had been able to request to teach online and that six of nine such requests qualified to be approved. Cheyney could not move all classes online because not all of its 45 instructors got certified to deliver remote courses, the school said.

Turnipseed noted that faculty who taught in the spring were already certified, and said instructors who didn’t create proposals for moving their courses online shouldn’t be penalized.

» READ MORE: Nearly three-quarters of Pa. state university faculty would not feel safe teaching students face-to-face this fall, survey shows

Cheyney’s small student population, suburban location, and health and safety measures help the school manage health and safety risks, a spokesperson for the university said, noting that some students — some of whom do not have reliable internet connectivity at home or do not have stable living conditions — remained on campus throughout the spring semester and during a summer program. Masks and social distancing are required.

The university “gained firsthand experience in creating a safe campus environment in the midst of a pandemic,” it said, and “has implemented additional health and safety measures for the fall semester.”

Cheyney’s Monday opening provided an early start date in order to finish the semester before Thanksgiving. Students moved into campus housing last week.

“We’re almost like a guinea pig. Everyone’s going to look to us to see what happens,” Turnipseed said. “God forbid if two weeks from now we’re reporting results that nobody wants to see.”

Staff writers Robert Moran and Laura McCrystal contributed to this article.