No new covid restrictions for Pa., but possibility looms

Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday issued his most dire warning yet as covid-19 mitigation efforts fail to stem the rising tide of cases, and he hinted that more drastic, targeted measures could be on the horizon if the situation remains grim.

He pointed to the warning he and Secretary of Health Rachel Levine issued two weeks ago, at which point they put into place stricter mask orders and a stay-at-home advisory.

“(We warned) that if Pennsylvanians did not act immediately to change our behavior, things would get dramatically worse in the coming weeks,” he said. “Over the course of the past two weeks, unfortunately, Pennsylvania’s situation has become even more dire, and I find myself here saying things I really, really wish I didn’t have to say.”

Wolf stopped short of issuing any new closures or business limitations, but he did not take those possibilities off the table.

“The hope was what we did two weeks ago was going to work and the numbers would not rise to the alarming levels they’ve risen to,” he said. “We are looking at all sorts of issues right now, and, very shortly, we’ll come back with more recommendations.”

In the first six days of December, state health officials reported 65,000 new cases of the virus and more than 800 deaths. The percent positivity rate statewide rose to 14.4% this week, up from 11.7% a week prior.

Pressed on why the state has not stepped up mitigation efforts as other states have done to curb their surges, Wolf pointed again to the strengthened mask orders and stay-at-home advisory. He said regardless of state orders and efforts, responsibility continues to fall on the state’s 13 million residents to wear masks, stay home when they can and avoid even small gatherings.

But, he conceded, “those things have not worked. If we have to do more, we will.”

Amid pleas from Wolf, Levine and other state officials that residents wear masks and stay home, a frontline nurse from Central Pennsylvania added her own plea to those who remain unconvinced and nonchalant in protecting others from the spread of covid-19.

“Like waves on a shore, it just keeps coming,” said Maureen Casey, a Hershey Medical Center nurse who joined Monday’s press briefing via Zoom.

“Nurses go home, cry in the shower, cry in their car alone because of the desperation and exhaustion they feel as a nurse,” she said. “As a nurse, we have just one simple ask — please wear a mask. It’s a simple thing, but it gets the job done.”

She said her hospital is already at capacity and on the brink of becoming overwhelmed with covid patients.

“Flu season truly hasn’t even started yet, and the covid patients just keep coming,” Casey said.

Health officials urged residents to get flu shots.

“We cannot afford to a have a flu epidemic in Pennsylvania in the middle of this global pandemic,” said Ray Barishansky, the state’s deputy secretary of Health Preparedness and Community Protection.

So far this season, there have been 480 lab-confirmed cases of influenza in the state, and 12 have required hospitalization. One person has died.

As hospitals get closer to being overrun with covid patients, Wolf said, it is to the detriment of not just health care workers, but people with serious illnesses and ailments — covid or otherwise. If the worst should happen, he said, sick patients could be turned away.

“That means more Pennsylvanians will die — Pennsylvanians who would not have died if they were able to get the care they need and deserve,” he said. “This dangerous and disturbing scenario is not only possible, it becomes increasingly likely with every day that covid continues to spread in Pennsylvania.”