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Philadelphia postpones re-opening of indoor dining, launches COVID-19 contact tracing program

July 29, 2020

Re-opening of indoor dining in Philadelphia has been postponed until at least Sept. 1 due to COVID-19 concerns, according to an announcement by Philadelphia health officials made on Tuesday.

Philadelphia is currently in a modified Green re-opening phase with outdoor dining allowed. Indoor dining was expected to reopen in the city by the beginning of August, however the number of new coronavirus cases has increased in the past two weeks.

Some 142 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 were announced in Philadelphia on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 29,945. 

City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said on Tuesday that Philadelphia has entered its second coronavirus wave and that people should now avoid participating in gatherings of any size and wear masks even when they are around their relatives.

The City’s Health Department has also launched a new contact tracing program and hired over 100 people to staff it, according to reports. Staff will call people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and will ask them to isolate as well as to provide contact information for people who they have had close contact with. Those people will then be contacted too and asked to quarantine themselves for 14 days.

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