Allegheny County Health Department Director Reconsidering Limit On Outdoor Gatherings
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The Allegheny County Health Department director says she's reconsidering the county's more restrictive outdoor gathering limit.
Right now, outdoor gatherings in Allegheny are capped at 50 people, where as the state imposed a limit of 250.
Dr. Debra Bogen says coronavirus mitigation efforts to slow the spread in the county are working. She says from to Aug. 14-20, the county's percent positivity rate dropped to 3.9%.
"With this decline, I have received many, many emails and calls asking to increase outdoor gathering limits. I hear you loud and clear. My job as a public health director is to make the best decisions I can with the data I have," Dr. Bogen says.
The county put the 50-person limit in place after a surge in cases three weeks into the "green" phase.
While it appears the spread of coronavirus in the county is slowing, Dr. Bogen says she's still keeping in mind that college campuses are filling back up and Allegheny County is an urban area where the virus can spread more easily. She also says she wants to get students back to school "as quickly and safely as possible."
With all this in mind, she says she's reconsidering the limits on outdoor gatherings, but won't be easing the county's restrictions all the way up to 250.
"I want to open things slowly and ease restrictions so we can watch how the virus responds," she says.
Meanwhile, she says state-imposed restrictions on restaurants and indoor gatherings remain because the county can't modify state orders.
"Any changes to limit the outdoor gatherings is not a signal that the threat from COVID-19 is any less," she says. The virus is still spread through asymptomatic people and it's still a threat to vulnerable people like the elderly.
