Pennsylvania’s top health official said it is too early to pull back the state’s restrictions on businesses put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Cases of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus have been doubling every 2-3 days in Pennsylvania and now total 851.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine was asked if the federal government could overrule Gov. Tom Wolf’s order closing non-life-sustaining businesses. President Donald Trump has suggested that he would like to see Americans return to work by Easter.

Levine said from a public health perspective, it is too soon to reverse course with the virus growing at its current rate.

“It is far too early to change those prevention and mitigation orders,” Levine said. “I’ll leave it to others to decide the federal versus state regulations, but we firmly believe in public health that social distancing is key and that is why people should please stay home.”

The Department of Health reported 207 new cases of the virus statewide on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases to 851. There have been seven deaths in Pennsylvania.

Wolf’s order closing non-life-sustaining businesses went into effect on Monday. Nearly 10,000 business deemed non-life-sustaining have applied for exemptions from the order.

On Sunday, the state supreme court rejected a legal challenge brought by two gun store owners who said the ban violated their Second Amendment rights. Twenty-seven businesses around the state received warnings on Monday from the state police for ignoring the ban.

Levine said that the current efforts to encourage Pennsylvanians to stay at home - closing all schools and non-life-sustaining businesses, and stay-at-home orders in eight counties - are the best way to slow the rapid spread of the virus.

She said it is one part of the state’s three-prong strategy involving mitigation, testing and preparing hospitals for a surge of patients.

Levine said the state is trying to avoid a situation like what occurred in Italy over the past month, where doctors treating coronavirus patients were forced to prioritize which patients would receive lifesaving treatment and which would not. She said the health system in New York, where there are more than 30,000 patients, is already facing challenges.

“The purpose of the governor’s strategy, the mitigation strategy, the prevention strategy, is to try to prevent that peak, that surge, which in theory could overwhelm our health system,” she said.

Preparations for the surge are ongoing, including adding hospital beds and tracking levels of staff and supplies.

Levine said that the Trump administration has been responsive in fulfilling the state’s requests for resources such as N95 masks.

Seven counties in Pennsylvania which are hardest-hit by the coronavirus have been under a stay at home order since Monday: Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Monroe, Montgomery and Philadelphia. An order for Erie County was added Tuesday.

The stay-at-home order was targeted at the counties where the Department of Health believes there is sustained community spread of the virus.

Officials expect to see a growing number of cases across the state in the coming weeks, including rural areas.

Levine said the stay-at-home order is not statewide because state officials do not believe there is currently sustained community spread statewide, but she wouldn’t rule out further restrictions if the virus spreads.

The Wolf administration has added restrictions as the number of cases grows in the state. On March 13, Wolf ordered schools statewide to close the following Monday. They will remain closed until at least April 6. On March 16 he ordered nonessential businesses to close their physical locations. That was extended to non-life-sustaining businesses on March 26.

“If necessary, the governor will take all precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and we reevaluate that every day,” she said.