PA Preparing Now For Potential 2nd Wave Of Coronavirus In Fall

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania officials are preparing now for a potential second wave of coronavirus cases in the fall, the state's top health official said Monday. But Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine said she believes the state will be in a better position to handle outbreaks due to additional tools in place, such as enhanced testing and contact tracing.

Federal officials, including Anthony Fauci, have been warning of the prospect of a resurgence of the virus in the fall. "I'm almost certain it will come back, because the virus is so transmissible and it's globally spread," Fauci said, according to CNN.

Levine, during a Monday news conference, said the state has learned over the past two months what needs to be done to safeguard against outbreaks of the coronavirus. She said health officials will be working "every day" to implement those strategies and tools before the possible second wave.

"What we're going to do is take the lessons learned from the spring to implement them in the fall," Levine said. That includes ensuring testing is widespread, and hopefully obtaining "point of care testing" at doctor's offices and emergency rooms. Results from point of care tests would be available within minutes or hours, versus days, she said.

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"We want to be able to have much more expanded testing throughout the state," Levine said.

She noted antibody testing will be useful going forward if a second wave arises. "Hopefully by that time, in the beginning of the fall, we'll know more about those antibodies and how protective they are."

Levine said state health officials will be working to bolster contact tracing systems that are in place now to target the location of outbreaks. The systems will ensure anyone who tests positive is immediately isolated and their contacts quarantined, she noted.

Levine said in just a few months, testing has expanded significantly in Pennsylvania. When the state's first cases of coronavirus were identified in March, health officials had to send the tests to the CDC lab in Atlanta.

Testing rolled out slowly to individual states, Levine added. With increased testing at the outset of a potential second wave, she said Pennsylvania will have a better handle on the situation than in March.

"I think we'll be in a much better position in the fall to be able to try to prevent significant outbreaks and community spread of COVID-19," Levine said. "We are going to be working on that every day to prepare for the fall."

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's coronavirus case count exceeded 50,092 Monday, after 825 new cases were confirmed. The state health department reported 14 new deaths Monday, bringing the statewide total to 2,458. Forty percent of the state's Intensive Care Unit beds remain available, Levine said.

Also Monday, Levine once again fielded questions about the timeline for the state's reopening. She said social distancing measures and closure orders are still needed across the state to prevent an exponential rise in cases.

"All of our modeling suggests from many different sources that if we release the mitigation efforts too soon in areas that are very affected by COVID-19, areas that still have significant community transmission, than we'll just go right back to that exponential rise and it could even be higher than the rise we saw before," Levine said.

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