PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia’s COVID-19 cases are plunging, but Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said it will likely be several months before the city lifts the mask mandate or other restrictions.
“We’re still in the CDC’s high level of community transmission. Things are still bad out there. That means we should continue to do what we know works,” she said. “The omicron wave has shown us how quickly things can get bad again.”
Bettigole said her team is actively discussing what conditions will lead to lifting restrictions, but it’s difficult to calculate, especially now that more people are using at-home tests.
“Just counting cases won’t give us full information,” she said. “Hospitalizations are a better metric but we know that some hospitalizations are for COVID and some hospitalizations are with COVID. Deaths are a very strong metric but we get that data delayed.”
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Philadelphia is reporting about 550 new COVID-19 cases a day — half of what it was last week and a steep 85% drop from the peak in early January.
There are about 700 hospital patients with COVID-19, less than half of what it was two weeks ago. The percent of positive tests is 7%, the lowest its been this year.
People who are fully vaccinated, including boosters, are 90% less likely to be hospitalized during the omicron wave. Bettigole urged everyone to complete the vaccine process.