Philly Plans To Reopen Restaurants Sept 1, But Will It Happen?

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia is technically in the "green" phase of Gov. Tom Wolf's plan to reopen the state's economy, meaning restaurants can offer indoor dining instead of the outdoor only, takeout, and delivery options that were permitted in the other phases.

But the city has its own metrics for allowing restaurants to offer indoor meals, and those metrics have not been met yet.

The city moved into the green phase on July 3, but officials chose to open in a modified green phase, allowing some activities to resume while keeping others closed down as the coronavirus still had a strong presence in the city.

Activities that will resume when the metrics are met are indoor seating with occupancy restrictions, theaters, and indoor events with more than 25 and outdoor events with more than 50 people. Gyms, indoor malls, outdoor sports, libraries and museums, and more are open in the current modified green phase.

Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said in late June that the city will move to a full green phase of reopening when it has fewer than 80 new cases per day, or a less than 4 percent positive rate out of 2,000 tests of more.

After delaying the full green phase implementation, officials said Aug. 1 would be the new target date to allow activities to resume.

But by late July, the predicted second wave of the coronavirus hit Philadelphia, with the average number of new daily cases rising from 111 to 164 in two weeks. Additionally, officials said at the time that the city's positive case rate was at 5.1 percent and hovered between 5 and 6 percent around that time.

As of Saturday, the seven-day average of new cases is 102, city data shows.

Last week, officials reported the lowest positive test rate seen in the city at 4.1 percent.

The second wave is infecting more young people, according to officials.

As of Monday, the city reported 32,248 cases since March 10 after reporting 291 additional cases.

The 291 new cases represent three days of cases being identified since Friday.

Two more people have died from the virus, bringing the city's total coronavirus-related deaths to 1,717. Of those 1,717 deaths, 864 or 50 percent were long term care facility residents.

It's unclear at this point if the city will allow indoor dining come Sept. 1.