Don’t have indoor Christmas parties, Philly’s top health official says amid COVID-19 surge

Philadelphia’s top health official on Wednesday asked residents not to gather with other households for Christmas or hold holiday parties indoors, saying “it’s just too dangerous” as delta cases surge, the omicron variant spreads, and hospitalizations keep rising.

The advice, a grim echo of December 2020, came as a post-Thanksgiving surge in hospitalizations and infections continues in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and elsewhere.

Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday asked the federal government to send strike teams to hospitals and nursing homes, saying the health-care system was strained by coronavirus cases in the hardest-hit areas of the state, while the CDC warned a potentially overwhelming wave caused by omicron could be around the corner.

“As a mom, as a friend, as a community member, I don’t want to say this. But as health commissioner, and as someone who cares deeply about all the people who will get sick, … I have to say it,” Philadelphia Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said Wednesday, citing contact tracing that showed most people are catching COVID-19 at household gatherings. “Please do not hold or attend holiday parties indoors.”

It’s a recommendation, not a rule — Philadelphia has no plans to implement a stay-at-home order, a spokesperson said. People who choose to get together anyway should keep their gatherings small and have everyone do a rapid test beforehand, Bettigole said, particularly if anyone who’s unvaccinated is attending. That would include any families with children under 5, who can’t yet get vaccinated.

Vaccinated and boosted residents are safer, she said — but are still advised by the city health department to keep their gatherings to one or two other households at most and not to gather with those who aren’t vaccinated. They should still do rapid testing before seeing anyone who is elderly, pregnant, undergoing cancer treatment, or otherwise at higher risk.

» READ MORE: Omicron is spreading rapidly in the U.S. and could bring a punishing wave of infections in January, the CDC warns

After months of counting on 2021 to offer a more normal holiday season, many in the public are uncertain about what’s safe for the holidays. Caught between the uncertainty of omicron and the fatigue of Americans, public health officials have issued varying guidance nationwide, in some cases avoiding making holiday-specific recommendations at all. More than 109 million Americans are expected to travel for the holiday, according to AAA.

Bettigole’s recommendation was the strongest public health guidance that has been given in the region. It followed Monday’s announcement of a citywide vaccine mandate for restaurants, stadiums, entertainment venues, and other places people eat indoors, another signal of city officials’ mounting concern about case spread.

Pennsylvania health officials have repeated recommendations for people to get vaccinated and on Wednesday said Pennsylvanians should follow the CDC’s holiday tips, such as wearing masks and getting tested. People who have received a booster shot are the most protected against the highly transmissible omicron variant, White House pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci said Wednesday, citing preliminary studies.

Delaware County’s top medical adviser said Wednesday she believes many fully vaccinated and boosted people will gather indoors this year, but she echoed the city’s advice to limit the number of households attending.

“People think, ‘Well, I’m immunized. We sacrificed last year. We’re going to get together this year,’” said Delaware County medical adviser Lisa O’Mahony. But “we are advising approaching indoor gatherings really cautiously. Ideally, family gatherings shouldn’t include more than two households and everyone should be fully immunized with a booster.”

Montgomery County medical director Richard Lorraine said the decision about gathering was a question of risk. Being vaccinated with a booster is an “effective precaution,” he said, but “no one should ever assume they have complete protection, even if they have received a booster, and should still take precautions.”

The county officials, too, advised testing before gathering and warned that hospitals were stretched thin due to COVID-19 patients, staffing issues, and the annual increase in patients this time of year.

» READ MORE: Pa. COVID-19 hospitalizations are at their highest level since January, with spikes in central and western regions

Various factors have combined in recent weeks to change the status of the pandemic: A surge in delta cases, primarily among the unvaccinated population; waning immunity among people who haven’t received boosters and are making up a fifth to a quarter of patients hospitalized in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and early indications that the omicron variant may be more transmissible and able to evade two-dose vaccine protection.

Coronavirus cases have been surging nationwide, with Pennsylvania recording the country’s ninth-highest average daily case count per capita as of Wednesday.

In Pennsylvania, 85% of inpatient hospital beds are in use, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. For the last week, Pennsylvania’s average number of new daily cases topped 8,000, the Department of Health said Tuesday. In New Jersey, hospitalizations had increased 80% over two weeks ago, officials said Monday.

Though Southeastern Pennsylvania has been less severely affected than parts of central and Western Pennsylvania, case counts per capita have risen about 100% over the last two weeks in Philadelphia and its four collar counties, according to the New York Times.

Hospitalizations are still on the rise in Philadelphia, and the city is seeing an average of 544 newly confirmed cases per day, a sharp increase over recent weeks — last week, the average was 450. The University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday canceled all in-person final exams scheduled for next week, asking professors to come up with alternative assessments.

Philadelphia also recommended wearing masks, limiting time in crowded places, and holding gatherings outside. The city’s contact tracing has found that new infections are most frequently linked to gatherings with friends and family, said spokesperson James Garrow. Just over two-thirds of residents who spoke to health officials said they were exposed to the virus in their household.

That’s compared with about 11% of cases that were traced to social settings, such as a bar, restaurant, or entertainment venue. The health department considers indoor dining safer than at-home holiday parties because the city requires restaurants to have ventilation, tables are set apart, and people don’t hug or interact with as many others.

Bettigole acknowledged how important it is to see family. But she said the contact-tracing numbers had shown that social gatherings over Thanksgiving had led to people catching the virus and, in some cases, being hospitalized.

“We want to have Christmas dinner and hug our family members and be done with masking and go back to normal. But just because we want those things doesn’t make it a good idea to do them,” Garrow said. “What we’re seeing in Europe and some other states in the United States is scary. We hope we can avoid those situations if people continue to take precautions, even when they don’t want to.”

Staff writers Erin McCarthy, Sean Collins Walsh, Rob Tornoe, and Susan Snyder contributed to this article.