PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia’s top health official says she has been getting a lot of questions from people about when the city's mask mandate will end. Those people are likely to be disappointed by the answer.
Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole says the city is again seeing a rise in the number of new COVID-19 cases, and with cold weather pushing more people indoors — and Thanksgiving holding the potential to cause another spike — this is not the time to end the mask mandate.
"When I say it's not the time, I mean that I'm hearing from lots of people: 'Oh, we don't need those masks anymore.' And it’s just not true, if you look at what’s happening with cases here and cases across the country and with hospitalizations," Bettigole said.
"Going into the winter, with cases already going up and looking at what’s happening around the country, I think it’s going to be a while," Bettigole said, dashing any hopes on Wednesday that the city's mask mandate will go away any time soon.
She says the Department of Public Health regularly discusses when it might be time to shed the mask mandate. It would depend on case rates, hospitalizations and other indicators, and right now, the city is still averaging 232 new cases of COVID-19 every day.
"The CDC does a nice job of quantifying case levels into high, substantial, moderate and low. Right now, we’re in high," she said.
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With Thanksgiving a week away, Bettigole says we could be looking at another surge. She says getting vaccinated or getting a booster is the best way to prevent that. Barring that, she urged caution at family gatherings, especially if there are family members who are unvaccinated. She recommends rapid tests the day before and the day of a gathering, eating outdoors wrapped in blankets, "opening windows, spacing people out."
And especially, she said, getting a COVID-19 vaccination or booster shot as soon as possible.
"This has been really tough for a lot of families. I think it’s causing a lot of unhappiness and arguments," she said.
Bettigole reported good progress on vaccinations so far. She said 91% of adults in the city have at least one dose. Already, she says, 6,400 children ages 5 to 11 have their first dose.
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