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Description
Advisory: City to Announce COVID-19 Preparations and Response for Philadelphia
What: The City of Philadelphia and representatives from response agencies and other organizations will share information on Philadelphia’s preparations to respond to COVID-19, formerly known as novel coronavirus, in light of this morning's announcement by Governor Wolf.
Who:
• Mayor Jim Kenney
• Dr. Thomas Farley, Health Commissioner
• Brian Abernathy, Managing Director
• Derek Ziegler, Deputy Director for Planning, Office of Emergency Management
• James Fox and Scott Sauer, SEPTA Assistant General Managers
• Chellie Cameron, CEO, Philadelphia International Airport
When: Today, Friday, March 6, 2020, 2:00 p.m.
Where: Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 2nd Floor, Room 202, Philadelphia, PA.
A
Good
afternoon,
everyone-
and
thank
you
all
for
being
here
on
short
notice.
As
you
know,
we
are
fortunate.
There
are
no
confirmed
cases
of
kovat
19
coronavirus
here
in
Philadelphia
as
of
right
now,
but
with
the
governor's
announcement
this
morning
of
two
presumptive
confirmed
cases
in
the
state,
we
felt
a
prudent
to
reassure
residents
here
of
the
city's
preparedness.
As
you
will
hear
shortly,
even
with
this
afternoon's
announcement,
we
believe
the
risk
to
Philadelphians
is
low,
but
all
residents
need
to
take
proper
precautions
as
our
health
commissioner,
dr.
A
Tom
Farley,
will
spell
out
shortly
we're
monitoring
a
situation
with
our
state,
regional
and
local
partners
and
receiving
and
distributing
CDC
guides.
We
regularly
work
with
our
Hospital
and
health
care
community
to
prepare
for
this
type
of
situation,
so
we're
confident
that
if
we
get
a
case,
our
response
will
be
ready
and
appropriate.
With
that
I'd
like
to
turn
it
over
to
imagine
director
Brian
Abernathy.
B
Thank
You
mayor
I
wanted
to
just
take
a
quick
tune-up.
Our
partners,
who
are
here
today,
certainly
the
school
district,
the
Convention
and
Visitor's
Bureau
visit,
Philly,
City,
Council
and
all
of
our
internal
operating
departments.
We
have
all
been
working
very
hard
to
make
sure
that
the
Philadelphia
is
prepared
and
feel
very
confident
that
we
are
ready
for
for
what
this
virus
may
throw
at
us
I'm
going
to
turn
it
over
now
to
the
experts
to
walk
through,
and
certainly
we'll
be
back
for
questions
as
we
go
dr.
Farley.
C
Thank
you
all
for
coming.
The
first
thing,
I
want
to
say
is
that
the
situation
is
changing
very
rapidly
and
our
response
is
changing
rapidly.
So
I'm
gonna
give
you
our
perspective
what's
happening
today.
That's
gonna
be
changing
in
the
future,
and
so
you
need
to
keep
up
with
those
changes.
As
the
mayor
said,
the
current
situation
is
that
there
are
no
identified
cases
of
coronavirus,
Cova
19
in
Philadelphia.
C
However,
it
is
our
expectation
that
we
will
likely
have
cases
at
some
point
if
this
inspection,
if
this
infection
were
to
spread
widely,
there
was
a
risk
that
more
people
will
become
sick
and
there's
a
risk
of
social
disruption
from
the
disease
itself
and
from
our
response.
But
if
we
respond
quickly
and
if
we
work
cooperatively
and
follow
through
on
the
basic
Public
Health
approaches,
we
can
limit
the
spread
and
protect
Philadelphia's
residents.
That's
we're
here
to
talk
about
before
I
get
into
our
response.
C
I
want
to
give
you
a
little
bit
of
background,
so
everyone
understands
sort
of
as
a
baseline
of
the
situation,
we're
addressing.
If
you
look
at
the
slide,
projector
slide
screen
here.
That's
what
the
virus
looks
like
under
microscope.
What
is
coronavirus
coronavirus
is
actually
a
large
family
of
viruses
that
we
all
have
experienced
with
many
different
corona
viruses
cause
a
cold
we
would
tend
to
get
every
year.
However,
there
have
been
too
severe
corona
viruses
that
have
emerged
in
the
world
in
the
last
dozen
years,
both
of
which
are
now
contained.
C
The
illness
caused
by
the
Cova
19:00
corona
virus
is
something
we
now
have
experience
with.
There
is
an
incubation
period
that
is
a
time
between
when
people
are
exposed
and
when
they
develop
symptoms
of
between
3
to
6
days,
with
a
range
of
perhaps
2
to
14
days.
The
most
common
symptoms
of
this
infection
are
a
fever
and
a
dry
cough,
and
then
that
can
progress.
The
difficulty,
breathing,
the
elderly,
smokers
and
people
with
chronic
diseases
are
a
greater
risk
for
having
more
severe
illness.
C
So
how
is
this
virus
spread,
based
on
our
experience
with
pesca
viruses?
We
feel
is
because
when
an
ill
person,
coughs
or
sneezes-
and
that
puts
out
fine
droplets
into
the
air
around
that
person-
and
then
that
is
breathed
in
by
somebody
nearby
or
if
that
person
who
is
ill
has
secretions
like
nasal
secretions,
that
another
person
nearby
comes
in
contact
with
that
could
also
spread
the
infection.
This
usually
requires
close
contact
by
close
I
mean
within
six
feet.
This
provides
an
opportunity
for
us
to
limit
the
spread
of
the
infection.
C
The
people
who
are
most
at
risk
for
acquiring
infection
would
be
health
care
workers
because
they
tend
to
work
very
closely
with
people
who
are
sick,
of
course,
and
then
the
family
members
in
close
household
contacts
of
people
who
are
sick
people
who
have
a
much
more
casual
contact,
will
have
much
shorter
duration.
Exposure
or
more
distant
exposure
are
going
to
be
a
lot
much
less
risk.
C
So
why
is
it
that
we
are
talking
about
this
so
much
right
now?
We
know
that
this
infection
emerged
in
China
in
late
December,
but
what's
happening
now
is
that
it
spread
to
many
more
countries
around
the
world.
This
is
data
from
the
World
Health
Organization
of
the
number
of
new
cases
identified
per
day
around
the
world
and,
as
you
can
see,
it's
rising
very
rapidly
and
it's
across
really
all
continents
at
this
point.
C
So
how
we're
going
to
address
this
problem
when
it
comes
to
Philadelphia?
This
is
the
key
elements
of
the
strategy
you
really
have
to
do
with
containment
of
the
virus.
There.
Four
steps
of
that
first
is
rapid
identification
of
cases,
the
quicker
we
can
identify
cases
the
less
opportunity
they
have
to
spread
that
infection
to
others.
Second,
is
then
isolation
of
those
cases
once
we
have
them
identified.
C
If
they're
not
near
people,
they're
not
going
to
be
spreading
infection
to
others,
that's
isolation,
then
it's
identification
of
people
who
have
already
come
in
contact
with
people
who
have
this
infection
and
who
may
have
already
then
been
infected
by
that
person
who
had
the
illness
and
then
finally
quarantine.
That's
a
term
we
use
for
people
who
don't
have
the
symptoms
of
the
illness
but
may
develop
it.
Quarantine
are
those
close
contacts
for
fourteen
days
when
I
say
quarantine
here.
C
For
the
most
part,
this
is
simply
in
the
sense
self
quarantine
people
staying
at
home
under
public
health
supervision,
so
that
we
are
sure
that
they
don't
come
in
contact
with
additional
people
if
they
were
to
develop
this
illness
themselves.
If
we
can
execute
on
this
strategy,
then
we
can
contain
this
virus,
and
so
it's
delivery
of
this
that
matters
the
most
now
there
is
our
potentially
broader
elements
to
this
strategy,
which
are
possible
in
the
future,
but
are
not
needed.
C
Now,
though,
the
broader
elements
are
limiting
public
gathering
so
that,
if
someone
who
was
unrecognized
got
sick
can't
expose
many
people
at
one
time
and
other
steps
to
do
what
we
call
social
distancing
to
make
us.
So
fewer
people
are
close
together,
so
there's
less
spread
from
one
person
to
another
again,
thus
we're
not
recommending
that
now.
We
believe
that
this
strategy
is
the
key
to
it
and
that's
we're
going
to
be
putting
our
greatest
emphasis
on
now.
C
Experience
says
that
if
we
do
this
and
we
deliver
on
that
strategy,
that
this
virus
can
be
contained,
why
do
I
say
that,
because
of
evidence
we
have
around
the
world?
This
is
the
number
of
new
cases
by
day
in
China,
based
upon
the
reports
that
come
out
from
the
World
Health
Organization.
As
you
can
see,
in
early
February,
China
peaked
at
about
4,000
cases
per
day.
They
have
scaled
up.
C
The
response,
I
just
showed
you
at
a
very
large
scale
and
through
that
they've
had
a
huge
decline
in
the
number
of
new
cases
per
day,
they're
getting
now
about
a
hundred
cases
per
day.
Similarly,
this
country
that
has
had
the
greatest
number
cases
beyond
China,
is
South
Korea.
This
is
the
number
of
new
cases
they're
having
per
day
there.
They
likewise
have
scaled
up
that
similar
response
using
those
same
elements
of
containment,
and
it
appears
to
be
turning
around
in
Korea
now,
at
least
at
this
point.
C
So
we
are,
and
will
continue
to
be,
working
with
hospitals
and
clinics
and
doctors
and
health
plans
and
others
to
execute
that
strategy
and
we're
doing
that
in
close
coordination
with
the
Centers
for
Disease
Control,
who
we
work
with
on
a
routine
basis
and
the
State
Health
Department.
Now
this
the
putting
the
strategy
in
place
is
changing
day
by
day,
as
of
today,
the
testing
for
the
corona
virus
is
much
more
available
than
it
was
even
yesterday.
In
the
past,
this
testing
was
only
available
through
the
Centers
for
Disease
Control.
C
So
here's
what
Philadelphia
residents
need
to
know.
First,
they
need
to
be
aware
of
what
the
symptoms
are,
that
this
might
cause
so
that
they
can
be
rapidly
identified
if
they
were
to
develop
this
problem.
The
two
most
common
symptoms
of
this
are
fever
and
a
dry
cough.
Most
common
symptom
is
not
a
runny
nose.
This
is
not
a
cold
okay.
This
is
an
infection
of
the
lung
that
causes
a
fever
and
a
dry
cough.
C
If
people
have
those
symptoms,
the
first
thing
they
should
do
is
stay
away
from
others,
whether
that
infection
that
they
have
is
caused
by
the
corona
virus
or
anything
else.
We
want
them
to
stay
away
from
others,
so
they
don't
pass
the
infection
onto
others.
If
they
have
that
combination
of
symptoms
and
some
sort
of
history
of
exposure
to
the
virus
or
potential
exposure
to
the
virus,
then
we
would
recommend
that
they
get
tested.
C
Exposure
to
the
virus
means
travel
to
an
affected
area
or
close
contact
with
somebody
who
is
thought
to
possibly
have
the
corona
virus
infection
by
public
health
authorities,
not
to
someone
who
thinks
well,
maybe
I
have
it,
but
there's
some
evidence
for
public
health
authorities
that
someone
that
they
came
in
contact
with
that
may
have
this
infection.
The
the
two
cases
that
you've
heard
about
today
that
occurred
in
Pennsylvania
both
met
this
criteria.
Okay,
it's
this
combination
of
the
symptoms
and
the
exposure
history.
C
Now
the
Philadelphia
Department
of
Health
is
working
right
now
with
doctors
to
get
the
system
in
place.
When
a
case
is
identified,
we
will
be
notified
immediately.
We
will
have
staff,
then
contact
the
patient
to
follow
through
and
all
the
additional
steps
to
isolate
the
patient,
to
identify
the
contacts
and
have
the
contacts
be
in
quarantine.
C
Now,
I
should
say
this
is
all
being
put
in
place
as
we
speak
it's
changing
day
by
day,
there
will
be
bumps
in
this
and
then
the
first
few
days
it
will
get
better
each
day.
Finally,
let
me
say
this
is
a
time
when
many
people
are
worried
about
this.
It's
a
difficult
period
and
there
may
be
difficult
times
ahead,
but
we
have
responded
to
many
other
public
health
challenges
and
ultimately
succeeded
over
them.
We
are
certainly
doing
everything
we
can.
B
Potential
sickness
is
in
specifically
being
coordinated
by
our
Office
of
Emergency
Management,
where
we
are
looking
at
not
just
the
public
health,
but
also
the
operations
of
our
city
departments
and
being
able
to
make
sure
that
we
are
being
able
to
maintain
city
services
going
forward.
And
with
that
I'd
like
to
introduce
our
deputy
for
emergency
management.
Derrick
Ziegler.
D
D
So
we've
built
relationships
through
many
years
through
trainings
and
exercises
and
collaborative
planning
efforts
and
on
and
the
results
of
all
of
those
efforts
are
what
we're
seeing
today,
we're
confident
that
we'll
be
able
to
continue
to
support
the
Health
Department
and
the
city
responds
as
as
we
go
forward.
Thank
you.
B
Thank
You
Derek,
obviously
one
of
the
places
where
we
are
always
put
in
close
contact
with
one
another
is
our
regional,
rail,
our
buses
and
our
public
transit.
We
appreciate
the
partnership
that
Leslie
Richards,
as
our
general
manager,
provides
and
welcome
Jim
Fox
to
talk
through
what
actions
are
taking.
E
E
In
addition,
I'm
happy
to
say,
we
continue
to
participate
and
involve
ourselves
in
collaborative
calls
on
a
regular
basis
with
not
only
our
local
stakeholders
and
partners,
as
you
see
here,
but
also
in
the
statewide
wide
level
and
we're
continuing
to
have
national
interactions
with
our
peer
agencies.
So
we
can
make
sure
that
we're
all
managing
this
the
same
way.
E
To
that
end,
the
first
thing
that
we're
working
on
at
septa
is
our
operational
readiness,
we're
watching
how
this
situation
affects
the
region
and
the
local
personnel
and
citizens,
and
as
that
resolves,
we
determine
how
we
are
going
to
manage
our
service,
whether
we're
going
to
reduce
service
eliminate
service.
It's
all
going
to
be
a
fluid
situation,
but
we
have
plans
in
place
no
different
than
what
we
do
for
weather
events
or
special
events
on
how
we
can
manage
an
old
tower
service
based
on
what's
thrown
at
us.
E
Additionally,
cleaning
is
no
new
new
issue
to
septa.
We
have
historically
had
a
very
robust
cleaning
program.
We
deal
with
the
management
of
spreading
of
germs
on
a
regular
basis.
Even
before
the
situation
took
place.
Septa
has
always
had
a
regular,
daily,
extensive
cleaning
process,
both
within
our
stations
and
our
and
our
vehicles.
E
But
to
that
end
we're
also
increasing
that
cleaning,
as
we
now
have
to
deal
with
the
current
situation
at
hand,
we
are
gonna,
see
our
employees
on
a
regular
basis,
go
out
on
the
normal
cleaning
schedule,
but
in
between
that
cleaning
schedule,
we'll
have
individuals
going
out
and
periodically
hitting
our
high
touch
surface
areas
both
at
our
stations
and
on
our
vehicles
just
to
try
to
manage
and
minimize
the
spread.
We
also
ask,
while
we're
doing
our
part,
that
our
riders
and
the
citizens
do
their
part
and
continue
to
follow
all
the
great
guidance.
E
That's
out
there
for
practicing
good
hygiene
practices.
Respect
your
fellow
rider,
remember
not
to
be
coughing
and
sneezing
on.
Everybody
continue
to
keep
your
hands
clean
and
watch
how
many
surfaces
you
touch
and
and
try
to
minimize
the
spread
of
this
and
any
kind
of
germs.
It's
good
practice,
regardless
of
whether
it's
Corona
or
any
type
of
germs.
E
We
continue
to
also
have
good
communication
with
our
employees
and
to
our
riders
for
our
employees.
We
have
an
internal
website
that
we
continue
to
update
our
employees
on,
so
they
can
keep
rest
of
all
the
different
situations
at
hand
and
what
we
expect
from
them
and
for
our
riders
septa
on
our
homepage
now
has
a
link
on
our
homepage
for
the
Cova
19.
We
will
continue
to
update
riders
and
and
our
general
public
on
things
that
are
happening
on
our
system.
E
What
we
might
need
them
to
do
and,
as
the
doctor
said,
this
is
a
fluid
situation.
Changing
every
day,
so
continue
to
have
the
public
continue
to
look
at
our
website
and,
as
information
is
deemed
to
be
something
we
want
to
communicate,
we'll
use
our
website
as
the
main
source
of
communication
to
our
riders.
Thank
you.
F
Thank
you
and
good
afternoon,
everyone
at
Philadelphia,
International
Airport.
It
is
our
top
priority
to
make
sure
that
folks
who
are
traveling
through
our
facility
remain
safe.
We
are
also
very
concerned
about
the
safety
of
our
employees
and
so
I'm
going
to
talk
a
little
bit
about
today,
a
little
bit
today
about
a
couple
of
the
actions
that
we
have
taken
to
make
sure
that
safety
remains
at
our
airport.
F
First,
our
team
has
a
communicable
disease
emergency
response
plan
that
has
been
coordinated
with
our
Airport
partners,
including
the
Airlines,
the
CDC,
the
TSA
Customs
and
Border
Protection
and
Public
Health
Department
professionals.
This
response
plan
allows
us
to
respond
to
communicable
diseases,
I
identified
on
international
and
domestic
flights
as
well
as
in
the
community.
We
are
collaborating
with
all
stakeholders
frequently
to
make
sure
that,
as
this
situation
changes,
we
are
able
to
respond
appropriately.
F
Additionally,
we
have
stepped
up
our
cleaning
and
disinfecting
procedures
to
include
the
use
of
in
virus
critical
care,
which
is
a
highly
potent
disinfectant
formulated
for
critical
disease
transfer
points.
We
are
using
this
chemical
chemical
on
high
touch
surfaces
such
as
handrails
for
Steps
escalators,
moving
sidewalks
elevators
handles
buttons
floors
and
restrooms
in
order
to
reduce
the
number
of
passengers
touching
common
areas.
I
also
want
to
note
that
we
have
proactively
installed
touchless
devices
in
our
restrooms,
so
think,
faucets,
soap,
dispensers
towel
dispensers
and
toilets.
F
Also
throughout
our
facility
we
have
almost
50
water
bottle
filling
stations
that
are
touchless
as
well.
We
will
continue
to
support
all
of
our
partners
here
in
the
room
to
make
sure
again
that
our
passengers,
our
guests
and
our
employees
stay
safe
and
you
can
visit
phl
org
/co
bid
19
to
see
the
latest
updates
at
the
airport.
Thanks.
B
G
G
Think
that
you
know
the
first
thing
I
want
to
say
is
thank
you
so
much
to
the
mayor
to
the
Health
Commissioner
to
except
to
the
airport,
to
all
of
the
partners
and,
of
course,
the
Office
of
Emergency
Management
to
all
the
partners
who
came
together
and
and
got
in
front
of
this
to
make
sure
that
folks
understand
what's
happening,
know
the
symptoms
to
know
the
signs
and
to
know
what
we
need
to
look
out
for
and
be
responsible
as
we
conduct
ourselves
and
go
about
business
as
we
normally
would
so.
I
just
want
to.
G
C
Yeah
first,
let
me
just
say
one
thing,
I
neglected
to
say
earlier,
and
that
is
that
the
Health
Department
has
a
website
that
is
updating
constantly,
with
guidance
for
all
sorts
of
institutions
and
for
residents
of
the
city.
It's
WWF
Illig
of
slash,
Cova,
19,
kovat
19.
There
is
information
there
about
facilities.
What
they
can
do.
C
We
have
lots
of
experience
in
the
past
and
working
with
nursing
homes,
around
prevention
of
influenza
transmission
in
nursing
homes,
which
is
a
problem
every
year
around
this
time,
and
we
will
be
working
with
them
about
things
such
limiting
visitors,
particularly
visitors
who
are
sick,
should
not
be
attending
nursing
homes
and
steps.
These
nursing
homes
can
do
to
prevent
transmission
within
the
nursing
home
and
for
a
rapid
identification
of
a
case
if
it
were
to
occur.
C
You
know
I
want
to
be
clear,
though,
that
with
so
many
people
worried
there
may
be
many
people
who,
for
whom
testing
is
not
appropriate.
People
are
healthy,
they
shouldn't
be
tested.
If
people
have
a
cold,
they
shouldn't
be
tested.
It's
just.
If
they
have
this
combination
of
symptoms,
we
have
there
and
this
history
that
suggested
they
might
have
been
exposed.