Philadelphia continues encouraging mask wearing, won't rule out mandate

Alex George reports on Philadelphia's deepening concerns over the rise in coronavirus cases and how city leaders are attempting to combat the problem.

PHILADELPHIA - The City of Philadelphia is continuing to encourage the wearing of face masks as nationwide COVID-19 cases rise.

During a press conference Tuesday, Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole went on the record to affirm that while the city encourages mask-wearing they won't yet mandate masks.

"Currently, the city is strongly recommending masking for everybody in any public indoor site," Bettigole explained. She said the city is supportive of businesses that want to mandate masks, but could not say if or when the city plans to re-mandate wearing masks.

Concern over the coronavirus are continuing to mount as the CDC says Philadelphia and three suburban counties are now seeing ‘substantial’ community spread of COVID-19.

"The pandemic in Philadelphia has taken a turn that none of us wanted to see. Cities and states across the United States, countries around the world, have seen their cases rise rapidly, due to the Delta variant," Bettigole added.

Cases of COVID-19 have doubled in Philadelphia from July 12th to the 19th and then doubled again by August 1st. As of Monday, Philadelphia, Bucks, Delaware, and Montgomery counties were among of 609 counties in the U.S. to fall into the substantial transmission category, Meanwhile 1,923, or nearly 60 percent of U.S. counties fall under ‘high transmission.’

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