Mayor Kenney and Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole spoke to the media on Wednesday morning about the city’s COVID situation. As you know, you can’t go to the Wells Fargo Center right now without being vaccinated, and you have to wear a mask, although there’s no enforcement of the mask mandate, so everybody just sits there sipping a beer or noshing on food the entire time. It’s a joke. You know it and I know it.

Today, however, the city announced that:

  • there is a 2.9% positivity rate right now in Philly – “numbers are very encouraging” according to Bettigole
  • they said the vax mandate “has been hard on our restaurants and entertainment (centers)”
  • “case rates are dropping everywhere, but harder and faster than in other parts of the states”
  • no more vaccine checks for restaurants (includes Wells Fargo Center)
  • Philadelphia is now at a “mask precautions only” level, based on a four-tier system they’re now working with
  • there’s a new vaccine incentive program, and if you complete the vaccine series you get $100, funded by a grant from the CDC (program is tentatively expected to run for six weeks)

In that fifth bullet point, I mentioned the tiered system, which is described by the city at this link.

In order to get to Level 1 – All Clear, we need to hit these benchmarks:

Three or more of the following are true:

-Average new cases per day is less than 100 (this is approximately the cut-off between CDC’s “substantial” and “moderate” levels of transmission).

-Hospitalizations are under 50.

-Percent positivity is under 2%.

-Cases have not risen by more than 50% in the previous 10 days.

If we trigger those benchmarks, the city says “No mask requirement (except in schools, healthcare institutions, congregate settings, and on public transportation; see “other situations”).”

This is all good and well, but Philadelphia is still behind other big cities. Washington D.C. is lifting its mask mandate on March 1st. New York City DROPPED their vaccine or mask requirement for businesses on February 9th. They’re only doing masks in schools and a few other areas of congregation, like public transit stations. Even New Jersey and California are moving this thing forward. We’re not talking rural Republican areas here, you know? We’re talking big blue areas.

So whatever. It’s good that Philly is making an adjustment here, but we always seem to be lagging behind everybody else. Either the policies are fugazi or the following of the policies is fugazi. Probably a little bit of both.

UPDATE – here’s a response from the Wells Fargo Center:

PHILADELPHIA (February 16, 2022) – Today, Wells Fargo Center responded to the updated COVID-19 policies announced by the city of Philadelphia, including the removal of the requirement for guests to show proof of vaccination or a negative test in order to enter the arena, effective immediately. For more information, visit www.BackToBroad.com.

“Over the past two years, we’ve invested tens of millions of dollars in state-of-the-art health and safety measures at Wells Fargo Center, and those investments have been a major success. Now, we’re ready to start getting back to normal, and so are our fans,” said Valerie Camillo, President of Business Operations for Wells Fargo Center and the Philadelphia Flyers.  “There’s simply no better place to see a game, concert, or show than Wells Fargo Center, and the atmosphere that made Broad Street famous is finally coming back.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Wells Fargo Center has  undergone a comprehensive health and safety transformation. Earlier this year, the venue was awarded the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management, a widely-respected, evidence-based, third-party-verified rating of the venue’s health and safety protocols. The arena also recently completed an $11 million replacement of its HVAC systems, installing a new, state-of-the-art air filtration system that replaces all the air in the arena’s seating bowl every 30 minutes.

Any additional health and safety protocols required by leagues or specific tours or entertainers still apply and will be listed at www.BacktoBroad.com.