More COVID Mitigation Needed 'Now' In PA: White House Task Force

LATEST UPDATE: PA Announces New COVID Restrictions Through Early 2021

PENNSYLVANIA — The fall surge of coronavirus continues to spread dangerously in Pennsylvania and more mitigation measures "must happen now" to prevent hospital systems from being overwhelmed, the White House Coronavirus Task Force said in its most recent state-level report, issued this week.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania officials have scheduled a news briefing for Thursday afternoon. It's not clear yet if additional measures will be announced at that time. Gov. Tom Wolf, who on Wednesday said he is positive for coronavirus, warned earlier this week that additional mitigation measures could be coming very soon.

WATCH LIVE: Wolf, Levine To Hold PA COVID-19 News Briefing

The latest Task Force report, issued Dec. 6, says despite the severity of the dangerous fall surge, Pennsylvania and other states "are not implementing the same mitigation policies that stemmed the tide in the summer surge. That must happen now."

The report, which places 61 Pennsylvania counties in the "red zone" for cases, said "mitigation efforts must increase" in the state.

Those measures should include the implementation of state and local policies with an additional focus on "uniform behavioral change," the report says. The Task Force recommends no indoor gatherings outside of immediate households. It also says there needs to be "aggressive" testing to identify asymptomatic carriers of the virus.

Contact tracing, the report says, should be expanded. All colleges and universities where students will be returning after winter break should have plans in place to test all students weekly, the Task Force says.

The report notes that the three counties with the highest increase in cases over the past three weeks are Philadelphia, Allegheny and Montgomery. Those counties account for nearly 27 percent of all new cases across the state.