On Thursday, July 22nd, Philadelphia officials announced that they now „strongly recommend” that everyone – both unvaccinated and fully vaccinated – wear masks indoors, a little Over a month as all COVID-19 restrictions in the city have been lifted. Health Department Spokesman James Garrow told that Inquirer, “Now is the time to take action. If we do it now, we can prevent it before it gets to a point where it gets really bad. „

Since the COVID-19 delta variant began to spread In the United States and among children under 12 who are currently ineligible for the vaccine, city officials fear the case numbers and hospital admissions in Philly could rise again. The city has seen an increase in cases recently, registering 64 new cases per day for the past two weeks, compared to an average of 24 cases per day in late June. „We’re seeing a small but worrying increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19 among children in Philadelphia and more than doubling in the city’s cases,” said Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole in a statement Thursday. Currently, approximately 61 percent of eligible Philadelphians are fully vaccinated.

Here are the new COVID-19 recommendations from City Health Department:

The health department strong recommends that everyone, including those who are fully vaccinated, wear masks in all indoor public spaces, use outdoors rather than indoors, avoid crowded indoor spaces, and mask indoors near people you do not know to be vaccinated. For those who have not been vaccinated, consider double masking in indoor public spaces.

When it comes to restaurants, city officials seemed to be safeguarding themselves when dealing with the Inquirer on how the new guidelines could affect eating in restaurants. Garrow said city officials do not yet consider it dangerous to eat in restaurants, even though vaccinated people do not consider it safe, although this new recommendation on indoor covering suggests that diners should be safe under all circumstances but while eating or drinking consider masking.