Things didn’t have to be this bad in Pa.

Sixty- three of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties now are considered to have “substantial” community transmission of the novel coronavirus.

“Amid COVID- 19 case surges unseen in the pandemic’s fi rst wave of infections, Gov. Tom Wolf last Monday said that he was ‘ stepping up’ enforcement for businesses that do not comply with public health orders,” LNP ‘ LancasterOnline reported. “Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine also announced a prohibition on alcohol sales at restaurants and bars from 5 p. m. ( Wednesday) until 8 a. m. Thanksgiving. ‘ We cannot let our health care systems crack under the strain of COVID- 19,’ Wolf said.”

In most years, Thanksgiving Eve is when people return from their grown- up lives elsewhere and meet up with their childhood and high school pals in their favorite hometown bars.

The night is so entrenched in American popular culture that it’s been dubbed “Drinksgiving” or — worryingly — “Blackout Wednesday.”

So we’re sure some people were sorry to see yet another social tradition lost to the abyss that is 2020.\

We certainly agree with what Joe Devoy, founder and owner of Tellus360 in downtown Lancaster, told LNP ‘ LancasterOnline: Wolf and Levine should have given bar owners and managers more than two days’ notice about the Thanksgiving Eve alcohol sales restriction

Of course, none of this had to unfold as it has. We might be better off had county leaders ensured that anyone who needed a COVID- 19 test could get one readily — and get the results quickly, too. And if they had regularly and repeatedly encouraged county residents to wear masks and practice social distancing, and had embraced those preventive measures even when politically inconvenient.

We might have established a better balance between protecting people’s health and protecting the economy had the federal government produced a national plan for managing the pandemic.

But none of that happened, so here we are, with the governor imposing a costly restriction on businesses at the eleventh hour; county elected offi - cials unable to adequately deal with the consequences of having treated mask- wearing as a purely personal matter; and our nation’s leader concerned most about disseminating election myths.

And us, facing an alarming COVID- 19 surge that demands we make more sacrifi ces.

Speaking at a Lancaster County news conference Tuesday, Dr. Michael Ripchinski, chief clinical offi cer at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, said, “We cannot sit back and hope for the best. Action is required from all of us.”

That means taking far greater caution and avoiding situations and places in which we could be exposed to COVID19, or unknowingly, asymptomatically, spread the virus ourselves.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website points out, “The more an individual interacts with others, and the longer that interaction, the higher the risk of COVID- 19 spread. ... The risk of COVID- 19 spread increases in a restaurant or bar setting as interactions within 6 feet of others increase.” And as face masks are set aside while eating and drinking.

Sixty- three of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties now are considered to have “substantial” community transmission of the novel coronavirus.

So this, clearly, is not the time to be hanging in bars with your friends. Even Chuck Moran, executive director of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association, acknowledged that reality.

“We understand that the COVID case numbers are increasing, and once again, our industry understands that it is being asked to sacrifi ce in order to play a role in saving lives of Pennsylvanians,” Moran said in a statement. “We get the importance of keeping patrons safe. ... But what we don’t get is why there has been no signifi - cant fi nancial help to assist our small business taverns and licensed restaurants survive.”

Moran noted that as “this crisis continues, more small businesses are closing while their employees lose jobs. Help is needed now, not later. Many small businesses cannot sustain continued targeted mitigation without help from either the federal or state government.”

While small businesses including bars and restaurants received funding from the federal coronavirus relief package passed by Congress in the spring, they’ve been dealing with signifi cant challenges in the months since. They need more help. And health care workers need the help of all of us.