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Starting April 18, Philadelphia will require people to again wear masks in public places after health officials reported a rise in COVID-19 cases. 

COVID-19 cases have increased more than 50 percent in the previous 10 days, 0fficials with Philadelphia's Department of Public Health announced Monday. On April 11, the department said the city was averaging 142 new cases per day.

"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," Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement. "I'm optimistic that this step will help us control the case rate." 

Under these rules, there is no vaccine or testing requirement for places that serve food or drink. 

in schools, child care settings, restaurants and government buildings. It's unclear when the mandate will be lifted.

The bump in COVID-19 cases may be a sign of a larger outbreak to come, according to the city's health commissioner, Dr. Cheryl Bettigole.

"This looks like we may be at the start of a new COVID wave like Europe just saw," 

This year, Europe did see a surge in COVID-19 cases thanks to the BA.2 strain — the highly contagious omicron subvariant of the coronavirus. 

This subvariant is also being blamed on a recent bump in infections in the U.S. and elsewhere. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, who recently 

"If our pattern follows that of the U.K., which we usually do and are usually about three to four weeks behind them, they are having a significant upsurge in the number of cases," Fauci said. "We are hoping that if that does happen, the degree of background immunity that we have in the country ... [means] we will not see an increase in severity in the sense of a concomitant increase significantly in the number of hospitalizations."

, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Attorney General Merrick Garland, reported testing positive for the coronavirus after attending the elite Gridiron Club Dinner.  

Health

COVID-19

Jaclyn Diaz

Author

The city will require masks in schools, businesses, government buildings and restaurants starting April 18.

Philadelphia to reinstate its mask mandate after a rise in COVID cases

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