Young people continue to lead in the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in Philadelphia, with people under 40 making up 57% of the 136 cases reported since yesterday.
The week before, Philadelphia was averaging 165 cases per day. The week prior to that was 141 cases per day, and the week before that was 111 cases per day.
11 deaths have been identified, which is attributed to the correlation with death certificates.
Only 158 people are currently hospitalized in Philadelphia with COVID-19. This is an increase from last week, but it is significantly lower than the number of people hospitalized at the peak in April.
The city has also been gradually expanding the number of sites where testing is available across the city and has also been working to improve accessibility by extending hours. The city continues to face issues with test results timeframes.
“We have had problems with laboratories with very long turnaround times reporting results, unacceptably long,” Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said. “We are seeing a small improvement in that turnaround time with one of the two big national laboratories.”
The city is working to move testing to local laboratories to help speed up the testing result process.
New data collected by the city through observation of people leaving retail stores or passing through interior SEPTA stations shows that approximately 76% of people outside are wearing masks in Philadelphia. That is an increase since June, when the first data collection showed 60% of people wearing masks.
Dr. Farley warns that this data must be taken cautiously as it is a new data system.
“Most residents are doing the right thing, but not quite enough,” he said. “We’d love to have that at least 80%. I would love it to be 90%.”
Read more about the importance of mask wearing here.
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