County presser on COVID-19 about to begin. I'll live-tweet as best I can in this thread.
Rich Fitzgerald: "The fact that we're coming to you on a Sunday afternoon tells you the seriousness of where we are. We have seen some alarming spikes in our positive test numbers ... particularly in the last couple days."
Fitzgerald: More positive cases in the past two days than in the previous two weeks. "We've seen a couple of hotspots ... since we came into the green." Hospitalizations and fatalities are low "but it often is something that happens after high test numbers go up."
Fitzgerald: Bars are going to be closed.
You will be required to wear masks in restaurants except when actually eating.
"For the first time, Allegheny County had the highest positive tests in the state." People in SE have seen their numbers flatten, while Allegheny's going in the wrong direction. County keeping an eye on youth sports.
Health director Debra Bogen: Over past 7 days, there has been "a very rapid increase in cases" and rate of positive test results has been over 6% in past few days, up from 1-2 percent previously.
Bogen "very concerned" -- "We went from no cases of community spread to a lot very quickly." And cases show no or mild symptoms, which increases risk of unwitting spread to others.
Bogen: Using "I am suspending the on-site consumption of alcohol of all facilities in the county."
Bogen "There's a clear pattern among our cases in the past week -- they visited local bars and restaurants" and people reported that masks NOT being worn by staff or customers. Bar shutdown effective June 30 at 5 p.m.
Bogen says that alcohol encourages people not to obey mask/social distance requirements, they talk louder, etc.
Bogen cites "bars in the South Side and Oakland" as special concern.
Bogen says county will NOT engaged in "sledgehammer" approach of shutdown used in March. County and medical system better equipped with PPE and testing capacity than it was before, "and treatment continues to improve."
Bogen is also urging people to self-quarantine for two weeks if they travel out of state. Says multiple reports of people who have traveled to Florida, beaches in the Carolinas, etc.
Bogen says that while there has not been a spike in hospitalizations so far, she is "worried" that there will be in the days ahead, especially as parents/grandparents are infected by younger people.
Bogen urges people who have traveled out of state -- esp. to Florida, Texas, the Carolinas -- "Get tested, and stay at home" until you get two negative tests.
Bogen -- people who have close contact with known carrier will be quarantined for two weeks. Some have broken quarantine in the past, she says, but "We are going to enforce quarantine orders going forward." Not exactly clear to me what this means.
Fitzgerald, asked if state has communicated that county will be returned to yellow, says no. "This has been isolated to a couple of areas, and we're going to be very strategic."Hair salons, gyms, have not shown problems so far.
But Fitz says that "if we don't get ahead of it now," more businesses could be shut down in the future. Notes that things have taken a turn very quickly.
Bogen says that with precautions like mask-wearing, social distancing, handwashing it should be "very safe" to do regular shopping.
Bogen says there was a "no face masks allowed" sign at a local business which "brought tears to my eyes." Most people following protocols, but "What I'm seeing and hearing stories about is people not following the guidance."
Bogen asked if increase case numbers is result of increased testing. Says there HAS been an increase in test volumes -- "but we're also seeing a higher positivity rate because there's a lot more COVID-19 disease in our community than there was" a few weeks before.
Bogen says that the restaurants where there have been clusters in cases have all had large bar areas. Reminds us: "No serving of any alcohol on the premises is the guidance."
Asked if the county made mistakes in going to green and lifted restrictions it shouldn't have, Bogen intimates that CALLING it green might have been an error, since people ignored guidance: "Had we followed the green guidance carefully, we might not be in this situation."
Bogen reiterates that so far, symptoms of the new spate of cases have been mild. But again -- this perversely increases the chance of transmission to people more vulnerable to the disease.
Fitzgerald, in closing, says "until we have a cure, we're going to be in this situation" -- with good weeks and bad weeks. "We've got to put a little pressure on each other" when it comes to mask-wearing, distancing, handwashing. "Let's turn those numbers around."
The takeaway: Officials say spike is driven by people in bars, people who travel out of state, and (I assume) people who go to out-of-state bars. LAST CALL to drink on-site is 6/30 at 5 p.m. (takeout still ok). If case growth continues watch out for kids sports, other businesses.
Here's the release from the county, out just now: 
!!!! UPDATE: The county's spokeswoman tells me that the county's order closing bars for on-site liquor consumption has been altered so that it will be effective IMMEDIATELY, with enforcement to start at 5 p.m. on June 30. So really, places should be closing down pronto.
Gov. Wolf weighs in with statement of support for county's steps.
