Name: Philadelphia health commissioner warns not to let guard down when it comes to COVID
Uploaded: 2021-11-17T22:18:14-05:00
Channel: Dawn Timmeney
Description: Dr. Cheryl Bettigole says the highest number of cases are in 10 to 19-year-olds who are unvaccinated.

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Philadelphia health commissioner warns not to let guard down when it comes to COVID

Dr. Cheryl Bettigole says the highest number of cases are in 10 to 19-year-olds who are unvaccinated.

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia's health commissioner says now is not the time to let our guard down. Dr. Cheryl Bettigole says Philadelphia is seeing an average of 232 new cases a day and the percentage of tests coming back positive is up as well.

"This increase in cases is coming at the beginning of cold weather and right before Thanksgiving and could mean we are in for another wave. It follows a decrease in mask wearing in the city and combined with the cooler weather to put unvaccinated people at risk," she said during a Wednesday press briefing.

Dr. Bettigole says the highest number of cases are in 10 to 19-year-olds who are unvaccinated. Only 5% of children in Philly between 5 and 11 years old are vaccinated at this point. She adds hopefully in a couple of months, the mask mandate can be dropped depending on vaccine numbers.