Pa. Health Secretary mandates out-of-state visitors have negative COVID tests or quarantine
Written by Juliana on November 18, 2020
Pa. Health Secretary mandates out-of-state visitors have negative COVID tests or quarantine
By Tyler Pratt
November 18, 2020
Pennsylvania is joining a growing list of states beefing up COVID restrictions amid soaring new cases. The state’s top health official is urging residents not to travel for the holidays.
Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine has not issued a statewide closure – yet. She has ordered anyone visiting the state to have a negative COVID test or go into quarantine for 14 days. But she says people won’t be checked at airports or on the road.
“And it depends on the public; each one of us taking our responsibility for the common good of everyone in Pennsylvania, and if we all do our part and we stand united, then we might not need any further mitigation measures taken.”
Read the press release from the Department of Health about the new order.
Levine is advising colleges to have a plan in place to test students returning after holiday breaks. And she says she’s strengthened the state wide mask mandate, now requiring them indoors wherever people from different households are gathered even if they are physically distant.
And, she warns, if hospitalizations keep rising, the commonwealth is on track to run out of ICU beds in December.
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