Officials in Prince George’s County are urging residents to avoid large gatherings for the upcoming holidays, citing an uptick in the county’s coronavirus case load and a rising percentage of positive test results for the virus. The county will continue to pause its reopening in Phase 2 because of the current metrics — and officials say they are continuing to brace for a further spike in cases as the weather gets colder.

“This is a holiday season like no other,” said Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks at a press conference Thursday. “We will prayerfully have an opportunity to gather in the way that we are accustomed to, but this holiday season is not it.”

Prince George’s County remains Maryland’s hardest-hit jurisdiction. It has seen 32,800 confirmed coronavirus cases, more than any other county in the state. Neighboring Montgomery County has seen the second-highest caseload, with 25,692 confirmed cases. At least 850 residents of Prince George’s County have died from COVID-19.

The county saw its peak of new cases during the last week in April, when more than 2,400 county residents tested positive for the virus. Over the summer, the weekly case counts fell dramatically. But Dr. Ernest Carter, director of the Prince George’s County Health Department, warned that certain key metrics, like the weekly case count and test positivity rate, are rising.

“October has been bumpy,” Carter said at Thursday’s press conference.

852 residents tested positive for the coronavirus during the week of October 18 — a 19% jump from the previous week and the highest weekly case count since August. That week also showed a positivity rate of 4.3%, which represents a 10% increase over the previous week.

Carter cited this data when he emphasized that the county was not ready to move into its third phase of reopening. Prince George’s County was among the jurisdictions that did not join Maryland in moving to Phase 3 last month.

“I’m concerned about what we’re seeing in our numbers as we enter into the colder months,” said Carter. “As we brace for another potential spike from the COVID cases, we have to be vigilant about the numbers and what we do.”

Carter and Alsobrooks urged residents to avoid large holiday gatherings, which present a particular risk for virus transmission. Officials pointed to data from the county’s contact tracers, which show that gatherings among family and friends are a top driver of infections (That trend is mirrored in statewide contact tracing data, too).

For Halloween, the county is prohibiting indoor haunted houses and encouraging families to avoid traditional trick-or-treating.

Given the uptick, Alsobrooks also said that it was not likely the county’s schools would resume in-person any time soon. Though she acknowledged the particular challenges that remote learning presents for students with disabilities, Alsobrooks said “we are not headed in a direction where we would probably feel comfortable right now with in-person learning.”

The county also relaunched its emergency rental assistance program on Tuesday and changed the rules for how to apply. Under this round of rental assistance, owners, landlords, or property managers must submit applications on behalf of their tenants.

Alsobrooks said the county shifted the procedure for submitting applications because many applications were coming in without complete information, rendering tenants ineligible for the assistance. The executive said she hoped the requirement that landlords complete the form would boost the number of complete applications.

Alsobrooks also announced that the county would allocate $6 million in state funding for additional financial relief for restaurants, acknowledging the challenges that public health measures have presented for their owners and employees.

“We want to make sure that these businesses survive,” said Alsobrooks.

The county executive also urged residents to remember that the upcoming holiday season will be particularly emotionally difficult for the many families grieving the loss of loved ones to COVID-19, weathering the economic crisis, or recovering from the illness themselves.

“Please look out for each other,” said Alsobrooks. “Don’t forget, during this holiday, there are so many who are suffering, who have lost loved ones, whose bodies have not totally healed yet.”