Philadelphia health officials are reinstating a mask requirement for indoor restaurant dining as of Monday, citing a rise in coronavirus infections.
The city is believed to be the first major urban center to bring back a mask mandate since COVID-19 cases started climbing again because of a new coronavirus variant.
Officials said the spike has been less severe to date than the omicron surge that hit Philadelphia and the whole nation in January. The average number of new cases has risen to 142 per day. That figure is 50% higher than the average of 10 days earlier.
During the omicron spike, cases were approaching 4,000 per day on average.
On March 3, Philadelphia lifted the mask mandate that was adopted to counter the omicron surge.
The Board of Health said it sees no need at present to take the additional step of reinstating a requirement that dine-in restaurant guests present proof of vaccination against COVID-19.
“Given the recent rise in cases, we are moving to Level 2 in hopes of preventing higher case rates and stricter measures,” Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement. “Our city remains open; we can still go about our daily lives and visit the people and places we love while masking in indoor public spaces. I’m optimistic that this step will help us control the case rate.”
Philadelphia has four levels of precaution against coronavirus infections.
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