Increased COVID Cases May Keep City From Adjusting Restrictions

PHILADELPHIA — Confirmed cases of the coronavirus continue to grow in Philadelphia and local health officials said Tuesday they may be forced to reconsider the level of restrictions on large gatherings just as Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced he is easing crowd limits depending on the size of venues.

Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley announced Tuesday that the city has seen an increase of 250 new cases of the coronavirus and one new death over the past 24 hours. The new cases, including an additional 28 probable case, takes the city’s total of positive cases to 37,812 since the pandemic began. The additional death brings the city’s total to 1,817 —49 percent of which have originated from long-term health facilities.

Yet, the increased number represents a pattern that has health officials concerned. Over the past week, the city has seen an average of 110 daily confirmed cases and a 3.9 positivity rate, which is up from an average of 86 daily cases and a positivity rate of 2.9 percent the week before last.

Health officials continue to see clusters of cases on the city’s college campuses, Farley said. Many of the cases are coming from social gatherings, Farley said, which comes at a time when Wolf is allowing more people to gather beginning on Friday. Farley said that local health officials will review the governor’s guidance and will announce whether the city will make adjustments to its current guidelines for public gatherings next week.

City officials announced Tuesday that they will not adjust their current restrictions before them with both Farley and Mayor Jim Kenney saying Tuesday that differences between rural locations across Pennsylvania and urban settings like Philadelphia need to be factored into the equation.

As of now, outdoor gatherings in the city are limited to 150 people and said that large amounts of people at outdoor gatherings could be exposed to the coronavirus, Farley said.

“We have different issues and different problems as compared to small towns in the center of the state or along the northern tier,” Kenney said during his weekly media briefing. “So when the governor and folks are getting pressure from legislators and others to do certain things and kind of open up more, it’s coming from areas that aren’t experiencing the levels of infection we are experiencing.”

He added: “(People say), ‘The governor said we can open up so let’s open up’. It’s not that easy.”

Kenney remains quarantined after coming into contact with someone who tested positive. Kinney said he hopes to return to City Hall as early as Wednesday and is awaiting the results of his latest COVID-19 test. Kenney is not experiencing symptoms but took exception to President Donald Trump appearing in public Monday night without a mask after being released from Walter Reed Hospital following his positive test last week.

“It’s pacing the death of people, pacing the death of Americans and apparently he don’t care,” Kenney said of Trump’s response and encouraging Americans not to fear the coronavirus. “What’s important to him is getting re-elected. Another 20,30, 40,000 Americans could die because of what he says and he don’t care.

“I think people should follow the rules, stop being selfish, look out for other people (and) wear masks.”

Kenney said he won’t stop political campaigns from coming to Philadelphia before next month’s election. While he said a Trump appearance in the city brings chaos and is “a pain”, he hopes anyone who would come to the city would care about the health and well-being of city residents.