Philadelphia Doesn't Plan To Lift Indoor Mask Mandate Anytime Soon Despite COVID-19 Cases Dropping
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – COVID mandates in Philadelphia - like having to wear a mask inside - will stay in place for now. City Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole made the announcement Wednesday, even though COVID cases continue to drop.
"We're seeing the COVID situation continue to improve, but we're not out of the woods yet," Bettigole said.
The health commissioner says there's been a 50% drop in Philadelphia COVID cases in just a week but the city is still averaging 554 new positive tests a day.
"Things are still bad out there," Bettigole said. "That means we should still continue to do what we know works."
So for now the city's indoor mask mandate stays in place, along with requiring proof of vaccination to eat inside. Ending the restrictions could still be several months away.
"If things continue the way they are, we could start to see things getting back to some semblance of normal," Bettigole said.
With only 30% of city residents being boosted, there's a big emphasis on improving those numbers and getting ready for the expected approval of vaccines for children under the age of 5. One hurdle - pharmacies cannot vaccinate children younger than 3.
"So we're doing a lot of outreach right now to primary care providers, about the fact that it's gotten much easier to provide vaccines than it was at the beginning of the pandemic," Bettigole said.
In New Jersey, COVID cases are down 80% from a month ago.
"We're on the road from a pandemic to an endemic," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said. "The omicron tsunami, as fast as it washed in, is washing out at nearly the same speed."
But Gov. Murphy says precautions are still necessary because only 50% of New Jersey residents have been boosted.
"We want to get to the place where we can live with this thing in as normal a fashion as possible," he said.
But there are still concerns about hospitals where COVID cases remain high but are trending down.
Also, officials say case numbers are probably dramatically undercounted because many residents are testing at home, those results are not always reported to the state.