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Stay-at-home order extended

HARRISBURG — The coronavirus death toll grew Thursday by more than 300 as Gov. Tom Wolf ordered most Pennsylvania residents to stay at home until June 4, extending a statewide edict he first imposed April 1 to slow the spread of the new virus.

The revised stay-at-home order, issued late Thursday to replace one that was set to expire at midnight, applies to all counties that remain under Wolf’s strictest lockdown orders — meaning that for now, millions of people face the prospect of at least another month at home.

At the same time, the governor is planning to allow more counties with relatively few virus infections to emerge from some pandemic restrictions. He said he will reveal the names of those counties on today. They will join 24 counties in the lightly populated and mostly rural north where Wolf has already lifted his stay-at-home orders and allowed retailers and many other kinds of businesses to reopen beginning this morning.

Earlier Thursday, Wolf extended a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions by another two months, until July 10, saying residents shouldn’t have to worry about losing their homes during the pandemic.

Here are the latest coronavirus-related developments in Pennsylvania:

Eviction moratorium

Wolf and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a fellow Democrat, jointly announced the eviction moratorium, saying it advances public health efforts to quell the virus outbreak by allowing people to stay at home.

“No one should have to worry about losing their home during this health emergency,” Wolf said at a video news conference. “This executive order takes one more burden off people who are struggling and gives them more time to get back on their feet.”

A board member of one of the state’s largest landlord groups blasted the extended moratorium, saying it gives tenants the ability to live rent-free without consequence for months.

Robert Levin of HAPCO Philadelphia, which represents 2,000 property owners in the city, said operators will be hard-pressed to keep up with taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and mortgage payments without the ability to enforce lease agreements.

“These people are going to lose their properties, they’re going to lose their nest eggs, they’re going to lose their investments,” he said.

Wolf noted that renters and homeowners are still required to make monthly payments. But he called on landlords to work with tenants through the crisis.

Unemployment claims

Self-employed people, gig workers and others not normally eligible for unemployment compensation were supposed to be able to start filing backdated claims Thursday under a new federal benefits program being administered by the state.

But the rollout was rife with complaints, and some applicants reported glitches that prevented them from completing the process.

Sarah Downing, a self-employed massage therapist in Doylestown, told The Associated Press that she logged onto the system Thursday morning to file weekly claims for the first time, only to get an error message that said she was “not totally unemployed” — even though she’s not worked since March 17 because of the business shutdown. She was unable to file. Many other applicants reported the same issue.

A record 1.7 million Pennsylvanians have filed for regular unemployment compensation since mid-March amid economic devastation from the pandemic and efforts to contain it.

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