Families hit hardest by the pandemic are also struggling the most with medical bills, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund. | From The Inquirer (Read more.)
Philadelphia public school students and staff will be required to wear face masks when they go back to in-person classes in the fall.
New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested it’s safe for fully vaccinated students and teachers to go without masks indoors. However, School District of Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite said the district will keep its mask requirement, based on the CDC’s recommendation that students be kept at least three feet apart and that unvaccinated people keep wearing masks.
“Until that guidance changes, we will still be asking individuals to be in masks and subject to testing,” Hite said, referencing the district’s rapid COVID-19 tests, for which parents must fill out a consent form. Hite said the district will perform weekly testing for adults, as well as random tests on 20% of students every week. | From NBC10 (Read more.)
Outreach efforts, including door-knocking, have been going on for months across the country. For local groups working to get people vaccinated, door-knocking and neighborhood canvassing have been a key tool in reaching people who have not already sought out the vaccine.
“You could just put a vaccine site and offer [the shots], but you’re not really going to get much bang for your buck,” Paula Ostroff, a community outreach manager for Thomas Jefferson University who has been coordinating on-the-ground canvassing for vaccine clinics, said Thursday. “So this community outreach is really important to bringing people to those sites.” | From The Inquirer (Read more.)
All Pennsylvania K-12 students now have the option to repeat a grade this upcoming school year. But the deadline to apply is right around the corner and many families are unaware of the opportunity.
Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill — Act 66 — on June 30 in an effort to make up for education gaps stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The deadline for families to sign up is July 15. | From WHYY (Read more.)
Is a vaccine collaboration between Penn and West Philly faith leaders a roadmap to more equitable healthcare? | From The Citizen (Read more.)
One of the biggest shifts in restaurant dining over the last year has been the push into public streets for the streeteries legalized by the city last year. One huge benefit of the outdoor set-up is more space for people. Many Philadelphians don’t want things to go back to the cramped, less accessible normal. | From: WHYY (Read more.)
Vaccination rates are rising among people incarcerated in Pennsylvania prisons, and case rates are falling. But a number of the system’s COVID-19 prevention measures are still in place, and prisoner advocates and family members say they seem to be outlasting their usefulness. | From WHYY (Read more.)
Unas 500 familias recibieron paquetes de alimentos y otras 140 personas obtuvieron la segunda dosis de Pfizer o la dosis única de J&J en un evento comunitario llevado a cabo en Kennet Square, Pensilvania el viernes. | Telemundo62 (Read more.)
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted much of life as we knew it. That held true for religious communities across the Philadelphia region, who couldn’t congregate during the quarantine, when many in-person activities were restricted in the wake of the coronavirus.
Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart is the director of Faith-Based and Interfaith Affairs in the Mayor’s Office of Public Engagement, where she and her staff advocate for faith leaders and religious communities throughout Philadelphia. Early in the pandemic, Washington-Leapheart said, it was important to provide COVID-19 guidance because religious gatherings had the potential to become sites for rapid spread of the virus. | From WHYY (Read more.)
Starting Friday, there will be virtually no coronavirus-related restrictions in effect in Philadelphia, for the first time in 15 months. | From Metro Philadelphia (Read more.)
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