Tredyffrin Readers Tracked Pandemic, Schools In 2020's Most-Read

TREDYFFRIN TOWNSHIP, PA — The most-read Patch story of 2020 in Tredyffrin Township was published on Feb. 26, as the Center for Disease Control told Pennsylvania to get ready for the expected spread of the new coronavirus.

Warning That Coronvirus Spread 'Could Be Bad'

The top story among Tredyffrin-Easttown Patch readers was one of the earliest in what became all-year coverage of the spread of the coronavirus. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, told reporters late in February that "the question is no longer if the coronavirus, now officially called COVID-19, will spread across the United States but when that will happen."

Communities, schools, and businesses in Pennsylvania and elsewhere were told to begin preparing now for "the expectation that this could be bad," Messonnier said. Read the full story here.

Back When There Had Been 34 PA Deaths...

Patch readers across Chesco followed reporting on where COVID-19 cases were showing up across Chester and Delaware counties. The first Chester County death from COVID-19 was reported in Willistown at the end of March.

The state was under a stay-at-home order at the time, and there were then fewer than 3,000 COVID-19 cases across the state. As Chester County saw its first death, that of an 89-year-old man, there were 146 cases reported in the county, and statewide there had been 34 deaths on March 28 — nine months ago.

As of Dec. 30, 2020, there have been 19,536 cases of COVID-19 in Chester County, and statewide, 15,672 have died from COVID-19.

Chester County passed 500 deaths on Dec. 23.

Then, Business Was Bad, Too

As the pandemic dragged on over nine months, readers were still giving equal attention to COVID-19 related stories in December, including what businesses were defying Gov. Tom Wolf's mitigation order to shut down indoor dining for three weeks as cases spiked. Patch reported on Dec. 15 that 356 businesses had defied the governor's order.

Hundreds of restaurants and bars across Pennsylvania have remained open for indoor dining, and many gyms have also refused to shut down.

The businesses have been "advertised" on a public Facebook group with more than 43,000 members. T/E readers have been following right up to today's story, when Wolf announced that the mitigation measures announced in mid-December will expire as planned on Jan. 4.

Local Pharmacist's Coupon Scheme Was Intriguing

A local crime story was among the most-read. The owner of nearby Kohlerman Pharmacy, Charles F. Kohlerman, IV, 50, was sentenced in March to three years in prison and two years of supervision for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 14 counts of distributing and dispensing oxycodone outside the course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.

In the Malvern pharmacist's scheme, when patients sought to fill prescriptions of brand-name Lipitor and its generic equivalent, Kohlerman enrolled the vast majority of these patients in Manufacturer One's Lipitor Savings Card coupon program.

Under the coupon program, Kohlerman billed a patient's private insurance and then submitted a secondary claim to Manufacturer One for payment to his pharmacy in a scheme to defraud the coupon program. Read the story here.

Tredyffrin-Easttown School District Is Always Top News

Some much-needed good news came in April for the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District community: Conestoga High School was ranked as Chester County's second best high school in the U.S. News & World Report 2020 rankings. Read the story here.

A 2020 Conestoga High School grad went off to Cornell amid the pandemic and joined the college's Heavyweight Rowing Crew, after coming late to the sport of rowing, but grabbing four medals in 2019. Read the story about Max Harmon here.

Open Houses A 2020 Hit

Maybe it's a nice diversion. T/E Patch readers really loved to view listings of real estate open houses, a regular feature on the Tredyffrin-Easttown Patch. The open house pages were viewed as much as the news in 2020.