State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said in a press briefing last week that new positive test cases are currently doubling the peak from the spring each day. “We continue to hear of additional hospitals across the state that have few ICU beds left or in some cases no ICU beds left. Our hospital and our health systems in Pennsylvania are significantly challenged due to COVID-19.”

Vaccines are now being delivered to front line healthcare workers nationwide, and tens of thousands of doses have been delivered to more than 70 hospitals. “This is great news, but the process has just started.” She warns that we must remain patient as the system is dependent on pharmaceutical companies’ rate of production.

“The light at the end of the tunnel … the path is long. In the meantime we absolutely cannot afford to overwhelm our hospitals any further. The mitigation efforts that we have in place are needed to get through this very challenging time,” she said. “We all want this to be over. We all want to spend the holidays with the ones we love, but this season we simply can’t.”

When asked during Q&A about restaurants defying orders to cease indoor dining because of a lack of evidence that it’s a greater threat than your average supermarket, she said, “They’re really hurting themselves. They’re putting themselves, their staff and their customers at risk. There is robust evidence for the last six months or more about the spread of this virus from indoor dining restaurants. There are many articles published by the CDC as well as other academic articles… it’s counter-productive to the public health of their community to do that.”

She did specify that there is national data pointing to transmission in restaurants, but at 9,000-11,000 new positive cases per day the state’s ability for contact tracing and case investigation changes. “No matter how many [tracers] there’s no way that we can reach 10,000 people a day. So our ability to get very specific information about location – such as eating in a restaurant or being in a business – is for the most part not possible right now.”

Thus, she said, tracing has been prioritized to congregate settings such as corrections and long-term care facilities.

Levine also said the recommendation for those who have already tested positive is to get the vaccine when it becomes available because there are unknowns, such as how long immunity lasts and how its effectiveness is affected by how serious the case was. “If you had more symptoms or a more serious case you may have a more vigorous immune response,” and the opposite, she said, but studies continue, so it’s best to be safe and get the vaccine.

As of Monday, the state has 505,205 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 13,924 deaths. Lehigh County has 17,286 confirmed and 444 deaths; Northampton County has 14,123 confirmed and 384 deaths; the city of Bethlehem has 3,879 confirmed and 86 deaths.