State health officials: Keep holiday gatherings small, only those in immediate household

HARRISBURG — Though Pennsylvania is more prepared to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic than in the spring, the state health secretary urged people to not get complacent.

“We are in a much better place,” Dr. Rachel Levine said. "Our hospitals are more prepared, we have more PPE (personal protective equipment) and we have better efforts to protect our long-term care facilities.

“But the fall resurgence is here. The COVID-19 global pandemic continues. And we need to work together.”

Levine said she understands that people are growing weary of restrictions on gatherings and capacity limitations at restaurants.

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But with the state reporting an additional 2,202 positive cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday – bringing the statewide total to 202,876 and reflecting increases that are comparable to levels seen in April – people need to remain vigilant.

“With the holidays coming, I realize it’s a sacrifice. It is a lot to ask of families to not gather with people outside of those who live in their household. But that is exactly what we are asking,” Levine said. “The small gatherings, the dinner parties, that is leading to the rise. It’s a tremendous sacrifice that we’re asking, but it’s necessary.”

For Halloween, she recommends setting up a station with individually bagged treats rather than a bowl. She also said people should wash their hands if handling candy.

When it comes to masks, costume masks are not good enough to be used as face masks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still wants kids to wear their regular masks on top of their Halloween masks.

Levine said despite the increase in positive cases, the state has no plans at this point to expand restrictions back to the red, yellow and green phases the counties were under in the spring.

“I understand that people are immune and fatigued by numbers. But each of those numbers represent someone who has been infected with COVID-19, or who is in the hospital on a ventilator, or tragically has died,” Levine said. “If we all work together, we can be successful. We are not yet done with COVID-19.”

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Cox Media Group