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Philadelphia reimpose the use of masks in closed public places like restaurants, schools and businesses starting next week, the city said Monday, in response to what appears to be a new wave of coronavirus transmissions.
The new rule, which will come into force on April 18, cwill make Philadelphia the first city role of the United States in re-imposing that mandate.
New infections in Philadelphia are rising rapidly, 50% more than at the beginning of April, prompting the city to step up prevention measures, city health commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said at a news conference. Covid hospitalizations, a lagging metric, are holding steady, she said.
“It looks like we may be at the beginning of a new wave of Covid, as Europe has just seen,” Bettigole said. “With this level of transmission, we don’t think there’s any reason to panic or avoid activities that we enjoy,” he said. “Our city remains open.”
The change occurs over one month after that the city of 1.5 million people relaxed its mask-wearing mandate in public spaces amid a decline in cases in March following Omicron’s record surge in January.
Philadelphia has an average of more than 140 new cases daily, while fewer than 50 patients were hospitalized with the disease at last count, Bettigole said. Cases in Pennsylvania jumped nearly 70% in the one-week span through Sunday, putting it among the top 10 states where infections are spreading the fastest, according to a Reuters tally.
Subvariante
New infections increased 10% in the US overall over the past weekdriven by the even more contagious BA.2 subvariant of Ómicron. The ‘cousin’ Omicron is now the dominant version of the virus in the United States and elsewhere.
Hospitalizations in the United States for the week fell about 6%, according to Reuters.
Most US states and localities have simplified vaccination and mask requirements. According to new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued in late February, nearly the entire US population currently lives in counties where they don’t need to wear masks indoors.
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