On Monday Gov. Tom Wolf added Carbon and Schuylkill counties to the growing list of counties under “stay at home” orders, and extended the shutdown of schools and non-life-sustaining businesses indefinitely.

“If you are living in one of the 26 counties under my stay-at-home order, you should only leave your house if it is absolutely necessary,” Wolf said.

Meanwhile, Wolf said he does not plan to restrict travel from New York, even as the CDC is urging residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to refrain from nonessential domestic travel for the next two weeks.

Four counties were added to the governor’s stay-at-home order on Monday - Carbon, Schuylkill, Dauphin and Cumberland.

The news came as the number of cases continues to increase locally and nationally. Nearly 700 new cases have been reported statewide since Sunday, bringing the state’s total to 4,287. So far 48 Pennsylvanians have died from the virus.

Carbon County now has 13 cases of the virus and Schuylkill has 30. Monroe County has 182 cases and seven deaths.

Under the stay-at-home order, residents may only travel for tasks essential to maintaining health and safety; getting necessary services or supplies; engaging in outdoor activity; to work at a life-sustaining business; or to care for a family member or pet in another household.

Wolf said he expanded the orders but stopped short of going statewide because the counties are the ones where there is concern about the spread of the virus, and county leaders were in favor of it.

Carbon County Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said he is worried about people who are still not taking the orders seriously.

“My concern is the irresponsible public that have not taken this pandemic serious and continue to unnecessarily expose others to the potential spread of the virus and don’t take proper safety precautions.”

“We see New York has its uncertainties,” said Commissioner Rocky Ahner. “As one of the most beautiful open counties in the state, we can and must keep a 6-foot physical distance to save lives of our neighbors, friends and family.”

Wolf said the stay-at-home order is necessary to prevent the disease from spreading from people who are infected but may not have symptoms. He acknowledged that it will only get more difficult as spring weather sets in.

“I know this isn’t easy to hear. We humans are built to want to work, to learn and to socialize, and it’s hard to be confined, as I know, to one place,” he said.

As of right now, the stay-at-home orders are only in effect through April 30. However the closure of schools and non-life-sustaining business is now in effect until further notice.

Those closures were originally scheduled through March 30, and extended through mid-April.

Many schools are rolling out plans to take instruction online, but not every district has the resources to set up online classes.

Wolf said his administration is preparing to announce an online alternative for Pennsylvania students in the next week or so, with hopes that it would be in place the following week.

Wolf thanked Pennsylvanians for following his orders, which he said are aimed at giving the state’s health care system time to treat patients and avoid an overwhelming surge in virus patients.

He said that the orders have only been enforced by warning, and no citations have been issued to businesses for defying them.

“To the extent that we can keep people from congregating, from coming together in businesses, we’re actually bending the curve and buying time so we can get to the point where our health care system can accommodate the demand for services,” he said.

Residents have expressed concern about people from New York relocating to Northeast Pennsylvania as the number of cases in that state exceeds 60,000.

Wolf said Pennsylvania doesn’t need to impose restrictions on New Yorkers because the federal government recently issued a travel advisory which included New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Under the advisory issued on Saturday, residents of those states are urged to refrain from nonessential domestic travel for two weeks.

“If you’re coming to Pennsylvania from New York, you need to quarantine yourself for 14 days - that’s not coming from Pennsylvania, that’s coming from the federal government,” Wolf said.

Wolf said so far he has not heard of any hospitals in Pennsylvania that feel that they are being overwhelmed by patients from other states.

State Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, released a statement on Monday urging action amid concerns that New Yorkers are ignoring the federal travel advisory and could overwhelm the local health care systems.

“Communities in these areas do not have police departments, so there is no one, save small private development security forces, to enforce this self-isolation policy. Furthermore, some of these residents are still traveling back and forth from the communities at the epicenter of the pandemic,” Heffley said.

While 700 new cases were announced on Monday, cases in Pennsylvania appear to be growing at a slower rate than they were last week. Officials were cautious to say that the decreasing rate of new cases in the state means that Pennsylvanians are being successful in “flattening the curve” by following social distancing.

Wolf said the system is currently not overwhelmed by patients with COVID-19, and there are certain optimistic models which say Pennsylvania’s health care system won’t be overwhelmed by coronavirus patients. But there are others which say that if certain trends continue, it will be.

“What it comes down to is that as Pennsylvanians make day-to-day decisions on staying home, distancing, washing your hands, to the extent we do those things we’re not going to overwhelm the system,” Wolf said.