Home for the holidays: Pa. health secretary urges that gatherings be limited to households

State officials are asking Pennsylvanians to limit holiday gatherings to those within their own households as the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic continues.

Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine said Thursday there is evidence locally and nationally that such gatherings, large or small, are contributing to an increase in cases of covid, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“I understand that it is a lot to ask, it’s a sacrifice to ask people, individuals and families, not to gather outside of the people that live in their homes, their households,” she said. “But that’s exactly what we’re asking them to do.”

“As we get into Halloween, as we get into Thanksgiving and Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, we are asking people to stay within their households,” she said. “That’s a tremendous sacrifice that we’re asking people to make, but it is absolutely necessary at this challenging time.”

Pennsylvania has experienced its largest spike in covid cases during October, according to state figures.

After reporting 2,202 new cases on Thursday, the state has accumulated 43,909 cases for the month with two days to go. At the start of the pandemic, cases grew quickly, with 40,000 cases in April. But September recorded just under 25,000 cases and August saw about 22,000.

“We have seen increases in our new case rates in all regions of Pennsylvania,” Levine said.

More than 2.4 million people in the state have been tested for the virus since March. The overall positivity rate is 8.16%. The state death toll stands at 8,762, according to health department data.

Levine urged those who test positive, and others identified as a close contact of a positive case, to cooperate with contact tracing.

“You could save a life by being honest about who you were in contact with and the places you have visited,” Levine said.

More than 380,000 people have downloaded Covid Alert PA, a smartphone application that assists in the contact tracing process. And while the number of downloads has exceeded state officials’ expectations, Levine said more residents need to get the app.

“It works better the more people that sign up, and we’re looking for eventually well over a million people to sign up,” she said.

State officials don’t have any “further plans” to resume the red, yellow and green phase system of closures and reopenings that was in place earlier, Levine said.