Philadelphia not ready to lift indoor mask mandate as COVID surge wanes

Philadelphia health officials say now is not the time to pull back COVID-19 mitigation restrictions, despite cases dropping meaningfully as the winter surge diminishes. It could be several months until the city's indoor mask mandate is lifted, according to officials.

PHILADELPHIA - While Philadelphia health officials remain optimistic that the city will eventually lift its indoor mask mandate as the wave of COVID-19 cases recedes, they're not ready to pull back restrictions just yet.

Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said COVID-19 cases have dropped by 50% since last week, but Philadelphia is still seeing more than 500 new infections each day.

Major U.S. cities hit hard by the pandemic like San Francisco, have started to ease some of the harshest restrictions due to a waning number of COVID-19 cases. Health experts blame the winter surge on the omicron variant which was found to be less lethal but highly transmissible.

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"If you think about where we are with this particular wave and case rates right now, we're probably several months away from a place where we will have the kind of safety to drop all the current restrictions," Bettigole said.

Bettigole, who was officially named health commissioner in November following the departure of Dr. Thomas Farley, believes that some things could return to a pre-pandemic normal if current trends continue.

According to the Philadelphia Department of Health, over 980k residents are fully vaccinated and nearly 30% of Philadelphia adults have gotten a booster shot.

Pfizer-BioNTech on Tuesday asked U.S. regulators for emergency authorization for a two-dose regimen of its COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months to 5 years old, aiming to clear the way for the shots as soon as late February.