US: Philadelphia resumes mandatory indoor mask wearing after COVID-19 spike

Philadelphia on Monday became the first major city in United State Which is reimposing the mandatory use of masks indoors to counter an increase in coronavirus infections, a measure that will take effect within a week.

The Ministry of Health of the American city informed on social networks about this measure, the application of which will be presented in schools, nurseries, businesses, restaurants and public buildings.

Mask state correlates with response levels to COVID-19And because cases are increasing Philadelphia “We want to protect our most vulnerable population,” the aforementioned section said in Twitter.

Variable Omicron

In early March, the United States deemed the omicron variant wave over, the wave with the highest number of infections since the start of the epidemic, and eased the use of masks indoors.

The city is reporting more than 140 daily cases, a fraction of what it saw at the peak of the omicron variant, while the number of hospitalized cases remains low. However, there are fears of a new wave of cases.

The city’s health chief, Sheryl Petigol, defended the action despite acknowledging that the current wave of infections with the BA2 variant may be “smaller” than the one produced by omicron in January.

(With information from EFE)