Philadelphia recommends masks in public indoor spaces as COVID-19 cases flare

Philadelphians may soon have to wear masks back into public spaces as the pandemic resurfaces in the city, where COVID-19[feminine[feminine infections have increased recently.

Philadelphia and other parts of the country, mostly in the Northeast, are seeing an increase in coronavirus cases as a subvariant Omicron BA.2 it becomes the dominant strain. Abroad, the UK reached a record nearly 5 million new cases last week.

“From what we have seen in Europe, we could see another wave of COVID-19 sooner rather than later,” Cheryl Bettigole, the city’s health commissioner, said in a statement on Monday. “It’s not mandatory yet, but Philadelphians should firmly consider wearing a mask while in indoor public spaces,” the doctor added.

The recommendation comes just a month after Philadelphia dispensed with COVID precautions.

“We don’t want to keep masks longer than we have to do,” Bettigole said on March 2, when the city lifted the mandate for interior masks.

Philadelphia has an average of 94 new cases a day, a positivity rate of about 3% over the past two weeks. COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50% in the last 10 days, according to city health officials. Across the city, 48 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, five of them with ventilators, according to health officials. Approximately 5,000 people in Philadelphia have died from the disease.

Philadelphia still requires masks at health facilities, nursing homes, and public transportation, but face-to-face coverage is optional, even in schools, except for Head Start programs.

Other parts of the U.S. are also telling residents to consider covering their faces as variant BA.2 expands. New York public health officials on Friday recommended that masks be worn in all public indoor spaces in five counties in the central part of the state, which ended mandates for indoor masks for public places and schools. on February 10 and March 2, respectively.

More than 980,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, which is killing between 600 and 700 people in the United States every day.