Facing a significant rise in new coronavirus cases, Philadelphia city officials will reinstitute indoor masking requirements, hoping to prevent wider spread of the omicron subvariant, the newly dominant variant in the United States, the Associated Press reports.
The number of cases has increased by 50% in the last ten days, the rate at which restrictions would be renewed. The city has no plans to restrict occupancy of buildings or offices.
While the spike in cases is alarming, the number of people infected is nowhere near the increases seen at the height of the initial omicron wave. Hospitalizations are current low–just 47 people are currently hospitalized in the city due to Covid-19–and officials want to prevent a surge of hospitalizations in the near future.