Officials praise venues that require masks, vaccine cards
As Pennsylvania registered its highest one-day total of new COVID19 cases since April, Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said they were encouraged by the growing number of venues and restaurants requiring masks and proof of vaccinations ahead of a busy weekend of events.
Mr. Peduto said he supports the decision from several major arts organizations in the region to require those measures to attend indoor events. He expects similar mandates by organizations are to come.
“I think we’re going to be looking at in the next couple weeks all indoor activities requiring the same
at in the next couple weeks all indoor activities requiring the same sort of mandates,” Mr. Peduto said. “As the numbers go up, they show the reality of how this variant and the other variants that will occur are more contagious and have a higher likelihood of having people who are not vaccinated hospitalized. We have to take preventive measures.”
He isn’t concerned about the people who could be discouraged from visiting Pittsburgh businesses as a result of such strict measures, he said. “It will allow those that are being safe to feel that they are in an environment where they can continue to be safe.”
During a weekend that features so many public events, including Picklesburgh on the Andy Warhol Bridge and the North Shore, Mr. Fitzgerald said individual people and businesses have to make their own decisions amid concerns of the fast-spreading delta variant.
He and the mayor made their comments during a North Shore news conference on infrastructure.
“If you’re vaccinated, you certainly should be wearing a mask when you’re out in public,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “For those that are vaccinated, I think they can feel good that they’re protected.”
He and county Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen said on Wednesday they do not now intend to order a rule, similar to the ones New York City and Philadelphia have implemented, to require proof of COVID-19 vaccination for use of restaurants, gyms and various other indoor spaces.
The state reported 3,451 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday. It had reported 2,332 new infections on Wednesday. A state Health Department spokeswoman said the sharp increase was not due to “any data backlog affecting today’s numbers, just a very large increase for today.”
It means the surge that began around July 4 shows no sign of slowing. As of early this week, Pennsylvania’s seven-day daily average of new cases reached 2,042, after having been as low as 155 in early July. It’s the largest oneday number of cases since April 30.
Hospitalizations also rose on Thursday, with 1,307 people hospitalized with COVID19, up from 1,275 on Wednesday (and up from about 260 in mid-July).
The state also registered 22 new deaths on Thursday, raising its toll to 28,040.
Still, the surge remains well below the winter peak, which included days of more than 10,000 new infections, more than 6,000 hospitalized and more than 200 deaths per day in early January.
Pennsylvania overall has 3,507 ICU beds and 338 COVID-19 patients in an ICU as of Thursday.
Beaver and Butler counties each have about onethird of their ICU beds filled with COVID-19 patients; Fayette has three COVID-19 patients in its 15- bed ICU; Westmoreland has five COVID-19 patients in the ICU and 24 ICU beds total.
While a vaccination rate well above the national average is credited with protecting Pennsylvania from the worst of the surges hitting the country, state officials and doctors continue to push for more vaccination.
Pennsylvania this week surpassed 80% of adults having received at least one dose; nearly 65% of adults are fully vaccinated.
Pennsylvania doctors say the vast majority of the people hospitalized with COVID19 or dying from it are unvaccinated.
An average of 24,918 vaccinations are being administered to Pennsylvania residents each day, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Of those, 15,895 are first doses. The number of total vaccinations per day is up 32.4% over the past 30 days. The number of first doses given per day is up 69.7% over the past 30 days.