Philadelphia 2035 (Blue Bell: hotel, lawyer, home)

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by cpomp

So ridiculous.

I can't find any other cities or large municipalities with mask mandates, so Philadelphia is a complete outlier. Not a good look.

On the other hand, maybe if we revert to a mask mandate now, we’ll significantly mitigate the incoming surge. Of course, the impact will be far more significant if the surrounding suburban counties follow suit (and maybe a few of them will).

Don’t get me wrong. I find this frustrating. It’s incredibly frustrating, in fact, as someone who’s fully vaccinated and boosted, and has played by all the rules, and has a child who’s still too young to be vaccinated.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by ElijahAstin

On the other hand, maybe if we revert to a mask mandate now, we’ll significantly mitigate the incoming surge. Of course, the impact will be far more significant if the surrounding suburban counties follow suit (and maybe a few of them will).

Don’t get me wrong. I find this frustrating. It’s incredibly frustrating, in fact, as someone who’s fully vaccinated and boosted, and has played by all the rules, and has a child who’s still too young to be vaccinated.

6ABC had a story on their site yesterday evening in which they were mapping the thinking of local health officials regarding requiring masks again. The article noted that the people at CHOP said the city didn't need to reimpose mask mandates, because there was plenty of hospital capacity to handle cases requiring hospitalization.

And that's the thing that just about everyone seems to be completely overlooking about this latest surge as well as the Omicron variant and the new subvariant. Yes, cases are surging, but hospitalizations and severe cases aren't. The people I know who have all gotten COVID in this recent bout convalesced at home and were back to normal in two weeks or less. There don't even seem to be as many cases of "long COVID" caused by these variants.

This, to me, suggests (for the umpteenth time) that SARS-CoV-2 is headed in the direction of other coronviruses: the easier they are to catch, the less likely they are to kill you. (As I type this, there's an item on MSNBC about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi getting a negative COVID test — four days after testing positive.)

And what this suggests is that the combination of this weakening of the virus and widespread vaccination is working, and that it doesn't require that we all don masks again in order to stay healthy. I think the folks at CHOP are on target. (Edited to add: And I should note that the people I know who got infected were all vaxxed and boostered.)

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by Pomelo

Dems need all the help they can get in Pennsylvania, and stupid stuff like this is going to cost them one of the few seats they can win. I do not understand how Dems have not got the nationwide word out that they should not even be saying COVID at this point.

Debate about the mask mandates is fair enough…but ignoring COVID would be to our peril locally and beyond. Both the city and state mirror the 67% national average vaccination rate. That’s just below the 70% estimate to achieve low-end herd immunity with the high end being 85%. We still have a long way to go.

[Redddog]

Just throw a mask on. WTF?

[Tweb66]

Originally Posted by Redddog

Just throw a mask on. WTF?

This totally and completely throws a wrench into many business's RTO plans and in turn will hurt center city. And when it comes to how it applies to restaurants, it is a complete performance. I know, I will just put on a mask for 10 seconds when I go take my seat at Quizzo tonight, but why? Because a board of medical professionals who are accountable to the major only, decided to ignore CDC guidance? No thanks

[Duderino]

I completely understand and sympathize with the annoyance, but I think there's a bit of an overreaction as to some type of economic impact that's being predicted.

People are going to grumble, that's expected--hell, I do too. But especially with spring ramping up and people wanting to spend as much time outdoors as possible, it's: 1) not going to apply nearly as much as does in the wintertime, and 2) much more likely to be a short-lived bump.

It's certainly not like the last surge.

[Redddog]

People are going to pay far less attention to this mask mandate. The city has no way to enforce it, businesses find it ridiculous and people are over it.

This will be rescinded in a couple weeks when they realize 1. it was overly cautious and 2. completely toothless.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by Duderino

I completely understand and sympathize with the annoyance, but I think there's a bit of an overreaction as to some type of economic impact that's being predicted.

People are going to grumble, that's expected--hell, I do too. But especially with spring ramping up and people wanting to spend as much time outdoors as possible, it's: 1) not going to apply nearly as much as does in the wintertime, and 2) much more likely to be a short-lived bump.

It's certainly not like the last surge.

How will this affect indoor event? Conventions, concerts, weddings, etc.? Masks are required for all of those?

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by cpomp

How will this affect indoor event? Conventions, concerts, weddings, etc.? Masks are required for all of those?

Conventions would likely be most affected, that's true. I would think that many concerts and weddings are are moving to outdoor venues at this point (or if not already, maybe this will be the impetus for them to do so).

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by Duderino

Conventions would likely be most affected, that's true. I would think that many concerts and weddings are are moving to outdoor venues at this point (or if not already, maybe this will be the impetus for them to do so).

They're gonna pull this back within 10 days, my guess.