Butler County added 18 confirmed cases of COVID-19 but its death toll remained at 19, according to Thursday's report by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 753 county residents have tested positive for the virus.

State officials revised guidance relating to nursing homes, particularly regarding testing and compassionate care givers.

Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said the state Department of Health will follow the guidance given by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid by tying testing frequency and procedures in nursing homes to the community's COVID-19 activity level.

When planning to go back to school, guidance was linked to COVID-19 activity levels, the thresholds being low, moderate and substantial.

According to Levine, a facility that does not currently have an outbreak in a county with low activity of COVID-19 will not have to test asymptomatic patients.

“But, we are testing all staff members every four weeks,” Levine said.

For nursing homes in counties like Butler, which is in the moderate level, the staff and residents will be expected to test asymptomatic staff once per week and any asymptomatic residents who have had outside contact in the past 14 days.

As of Tuesday, the county has had COVID-19 in 16 long-term care facilities with 32 cases among residents, 25 cases among employees and three deaths.

This is a breaking news report — pick up Friday's Butler Eagle to read the full article.