Bars, gyms and entertainment venues, along with indoor dining are currently banned in Pennsylvania until January 4, 2021, in an attempt to curb the rapidly rising cases of COVID-19 after Thanksgiving.
But with a post-Christmas surge that could be worse than the one in early December, those restrictions could be extended.
Governor Tom Wolf said that at this time there are no plans to extend the January 4 date, but if cases rise again, extending the shutdown could be a reality.
“We’re going to have to watch our numbers very carefully,” said PA Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine on Wednesday.
Levine warned against traveling for the holidays and that people even cancel small gathers for the holiday and New Year’s.
AAA says they expect around 85 million people to travel for the holidays and experts fear the post-Christmas spike could be worse than the one we saw after Thanksgiving.
“If the cases remain plateaued or even go down then that would be a very positive finding that would influence our decisions about the mitigation.”
Philadelphia has already announced they are anticipating a post-holiday spike and will be extend their shutdown through January 15.