Pennsylvania asked the federal government on Wednesday to send health care workers to hospitals and nursing homes that are increasingly under stress from persistent staffing shortages and the latest COVID-19 surge.
The Wolf administration requested Federal Emergency Management Agency "strike teams" for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and ambulance companies in the hardest-hit areas of the state. Pennsylvania also asked FEMA for 1 million rapid at-home coronavirus tests and for an increase in the state's allocation of monoclonal antibody treatments, to be targeted to "rural areas, regions with higher social vulnerability, and lower vaccinations rates."
The threat, specific to Friday, does not describe a specific act or name a certain school or school district, instead warning "every school in the USA, even elementary," school officials said. What started as an excuse to skip school, officials said, quickly morphed into a dangerous social media movement.
