With COVID-19 infections surging, Pennsylvania’s health secretary on Monday warned that making the right “choice” on face masks and social distancing is critical to avoiding a repeat of the situation that prompted major restrictions during spring.
“If you feel uncomfortable with how close people are at, for instance, a restaurant where you might be dining, then make the choice to leave,” Dr. Rachel Levine said. “If you are in a store where people are not following the mandatory mask order, make the choice to leave. And if you are getting together with people who might be talking that they are not changing their lifestyle or not wearing masks, then make a choice not to go to be with those people.”
Levine said, “As much as our efforts are about laws and mandates and requirements, they are mostly about your choices.”
As of Monday, Pennsylvania over the past week was averaging 776 new cases per day, up from 543 per day two weeks earlier. The state logged more than 1,000 new cases on Friday, breaking the 1,000 mark for the first time since May 10.
Levine on Monday warned of a repeat of Pennsylvania’s first surge, when infections among adults younger than 50 spread to people over 65, who have accounted for the vast majority of the nearly 7,000 COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania.
She said people over 65 now account for about half of cases, with people 19-49 accounting for 45 percent of total cases.
Still, Levine on Monday said she and Gov. Tom Wolf have no plans to impose any statewide restrictions in response to the surge.
Rather, she stressed that local officials in places such as Allegheny County, which has restricted indoor dining and on-site drinking, “have taken precise and targeted” steps which “are working.”
“We are very carefully monitoring data from across the state to ensure that we stay on the right track,” Levine said.
In rural Perry County, county Commissioner Gary Eby on Monday said he’s been seeing more people without face masks in places such as stores.
Eby, a Republican, said he worries it’s a sign people feel the threat is gone and are letting down their guards.
“The most important thing is don’t get complacent,” he said.
Eby said he and fellow commissioners remain worried about a surge in the county, and are especially worried about the possibility of COVID-19 infections interfering with the reopening of schools.
Another worry, he said, involves the potential for spread among Perry’s approximately 3,000 Amish and Mennonite residents.
They commonly visit, or have visitors from, places such as Lancaster which have higher concentrations of infections, and Amish and Mennonites may be less inclined to wear face masks and practice social distancing, Eby said.
He said commissioners have been reaching out to Amish and Mennonites, stressing they are part of an overall community, with everyone having a responsibility to protect the community.
Another worry, he said, is that county employees will vacation in hard-hit areas, causing them to miss work because of illness or having to quarantine for two weeks.
“Everybody needs to be here. We don’t have fat to cut,” Eby said.
On Monday, cases continued to surge around the United States, with some states and cities adding new restrictions or rolling back aspects of re-opening.
California, for example, shut down indoor activity at places including restaurants, bars and movie theaters. Oregon banned most indoor gatherings of more than 10 people and imposed an outdoor mask requirement similar to Pennsylvania’s. New York said it will begin tracking people from a list of hard-hit states and requiring them to quarantine for 14 days, with fines for people who try to skirt the process.
Levine noted on Monday that states including Florida, Texas, California, Arizona and South Carolina didn’t see the kind of surges that Pennsylvania did during the spring. But now some of those are logging far higher cases counts than Pennsylvania did during its peak, with their health care systems more stressed than was the case in Pennsylvania.
She said Pennsylvanians must stay vigilant in order to prevent the situation from turning more dire.
“What’s most important for Pennsylvania’s to know right now is that in order to go about their routines, we need to make important choices to lower our risk,” she said. “We have to adapt our activities to protect against COVID-19 and make the choice to not do some of those activities if they’re not safe.”
She said people should “please go for a walk, go hiking, enjoy state parks, but take your mask, just like you take your sunscreen. Think about yourself, think about your family. Think about your community and others, and make those smart choices.”
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