With its number of coronavirus cases on the rise, Chester County is now the only county in the Philadelphia region to not meet two important benchmarks required for transitioning to the green phase, write Marie McCullough, Sarah Gantz, and John Duchneskie for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

According to state data, the latest 14-day count of new cases in Chester County is up by 20 percent compared to the previous 14-day period. This fails to meet the state standard that calls for decreasing or stable case counts.

Also, Chester County has not had a positive test rate of less than 10 percent for 14 consecutive days, which is required by another barometer.

Jeanne Casner, the county’s health director, said that the high positive rates stem from the decision to focus testing primarily on areas that require the most attention. These include hospitals and federally qualified health centers in the southern part of the county that began reporting an uptick in cases in late May.

“While I understand the metrics and eagerness to get to green,” said Casner, “we’re doing the right public-health strategy” to prevent further community spread.

Read more about these benchmarks in The Philadelphia Inquirer here.

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