Philadelphia reimposes indoor mask mandate in response to rising omicron BA.2 cases

Philadelphia well being officers introduced Monday that they’re reimposing the indoor masks mandate in response to a rise in instances pushed by the omicron BA.2 subvariant. 

“Not too long ago we have been watching COVID-19 instances and hospitalizations rise in a number of European nations and a few locations within the US, and now had been beginning to see instances right here in Philadelphia rise,” Philadelphia Well being Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole mentioned at a press briefing on Monday afternoon. “We’re reintroducing the masks mandate in Philadelphia.”

Philadelphia seems to be the primary main metropolis to reimpose an indoor masks mandate after native governments and states throughout the nation lifted them earlier this 12 months in response to plummeting instances. 

The town entered tier 2 of its COVID-19 response system, which implies Philadelphia has hit two of three necessities between 100-225 new instances per day, a 50% enhance in instances over the earlier 10 days, and hospitalization between 50-100. 

TSA TO EXTEND COVID MASK MANDATE FOR ANOTHER MONTH

If new instances hit between 225 and 500 per day, then town will reimpose the requirement that residents present a vaccine card or adverse COVID-19 take a look at earlier than getting into bars and eating places. 

“Our metropolis stays open; we are able to nonetheless go about our day by day lives and go to the individuals and locations we love whereas masking in indoor public areas,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney tweeted Monday. 

The brand new masks mandate will go into impact subsequent Monday after “a one-week schooling interval for companies.” 

The 7-day common for brand spanking new COVID-19 instances has been round 26,000 nationwide since mid-March after dropping sharply in January and February from an all-time excessive of 806,739 on January 15, in response to CDC knowledge. 

President Biden touted the top of masks mandates throughout his State of the Union handle final month. 

“Most People in a lot of the nation can now be masks free.  And based mostly on the projections, extra of the nation will attain that time throughout the subsequent couple of weeks,” Biden mentioned on March 1. “Due to the progress we’ve got made this previous 12 months, COVID-19 want now not management our lives.”