Philly will require masks in indoor public spaces again as COVID-19 cases rise

By resuming the indoor mask mandate, city officials hope to stave off another surge in hospitalizations and deaths that could accompany the current case increase that appears to be caused by the BA.2 omicron subvariant.

“If we fail to act now, knowing that every previous wave of infections has been followed by a wave of hospitalizations and a wave of deaths, it’ll be too late for many of our residents,” Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said during a briefing Monday.

“We don’t know if the BA.2 variant in Philadelphia will have the kind of impact on hospitalizations and deaths that we saw with the original omicron variant this winter,” Bettigole said. “I suspect that this wave will be smaller than the one we saw in January.”

Hospitalizations may be the key in determining how long the masks will stay on, Bettigole said.

“This is our chance to get ahead of the pandemic, to put our masks on until we have more information on the severity of this variant.”

More at source: Philadelphia Inquirer

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