Another Philadelphia school has temporarily closed because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

Richmond Elementary has shut for in-person instruction “because of multiple cases” of the virus, Philadelphia School District spokesperson Monica Lewis said Wednesday night. The school will be closed Thursday, as planned, for Yom Kippur, and will shift to all virtual instruction on Friday. Students can return to the building on Sept. 27.

It’s the second district school and the fourth overall — two charters, Lindley Academy and Pan-American Charter — have also closed because of COVID-19 cases.

— Kristen A. Graham

Unvaccinated individuals cost the U.S. health-care system $5.7 billion in avoidable hospital expenses over the past three months — a tab that could continue to rise as vaccination rates plateau and cases surge among the unvaccinated.

In August alone COVID-19 hospitalizations among unvaccinated people cost $3.7 billion — more than the prior two months combined — according to new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The estimate does not include the cost of follow-up care or long-term medical needs.

“The monetary cost of treating unvaccinated people for COVID-19 is borne not only by patients but also by society more broadly,” Krutika Amin, an associate director at the Kaiser Family Foundation, and co-author Cynthia Cox, a vice president at the organization, wrote in their analysis.

Using data reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Amin and Cox estimated that 280,000 adult COVID-19 hospitalizations between June and August could have been prevented if people had gotten vaccinated. While breakthrough cases among vaccinated individuals can occur, the vast majority of COVID-19 hospitalizations have been among people who were not fully vaccinated.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Tuesday said that unvaccinated people account for 95% of hospitalizations and 97% of deaths.

» READ MORE: COVID-19 hospitalizations for unvaccinated patients total $5.7 billion in ‘avoidable’ costs, study finds

— Sarah Gantz

There have been six COVID-19 outbreaks in schools across New Jersey so far this school year, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said Wednesday.

They include two outbreaks in Atlantic County and one each in Cumberland, Monmouth, Morris, and Union Counties, she said.

The cases involve a combination of 20 students and staff. Three cases that are connected but not from the same household are deemed an in-school outbreak. The state did not release the names of specific districts with outbreaks.

Murphy said it is too early to determine how New Jersey schools are managing since most schools in the state reopened last week.

— Melanie Burney

The Philadelphia School District has asked outside agencies — including the Pennsylvania National Guard and Amazon — to help solve the city’s school bus crisis, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Wednesday.

Students in district, charter and private schools are missing class, arriving late or getting home hours after they’re supposed to as buses fail to show at all or come at irregular times. The district had braced for transportation problems, but the reality was worse than anticipated, officials have said.

Hite, at a news conference, said the district reached out to Gov. Tom Wolf’s office Tuesday to explore the possibility of the National Guard stepping in to help drive vans or assist in other ways.

Though no commitments promised or decisions made, “they’re amenable to helping us solve the problem,” Hite said, adding that districts across the state and around the country are in the same bind. Massachusetts is also using its National Guard to address transportation issues.

» READ MORE: Pa. National Guard, Amazon could help solve Philly’s bus crisis, Superintendent Hite says

— Kristen A. Graham

Delawareans fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine have been the least likely to become infected with COVID-19, according to data analysis by the state, and fewer than one percent of people immunized with any vaccine later contracted a confirmed case of the virus.

The new data from Delaware adds to a growing body of early research showing that the shots continue to offer strong protection even against the highly transmissible delta variant.

Delaware found 333 confirmed cases were reported in people who got Johnson & Johnson, representing 0.76% of the 43,947 people immunized with the one-shot vaccine. Among the two-dose vaccines, 589 cases were reported among the more than 190,000 people who got the Moderna shots, representing 0.31%, according to the data analysis, and 1,385 cases were reported among the more than 274,000 residents who received Pfizer, representing 0.51%.

“We are carefully watching the breakthrough numbers and what we know for certain is the vaccine is the best tool we have to prevent serious COVID-19 illness and death,” Delaware Division of Health spokesperson Mary Fenimore said. “The proof of this is that our numbers for hospitalizations and deaths for those who are fully vaccinated is extremely low,” with only 50 having been hospitalized this year, and 25 having died after testing positive for COVID-19.

» READ MORE: People who got the Moderna shot had the lowest rate of COVID-19 breakthrough cases in Delaware

— Erin McCarthy and Justine McDaniel

Three Philadelphia schools have now been forced to temporarily close due to COVID-19 cases, including one Philadelphia School District building.

Emlen Elementary in East Mount Airy will be shut for in-person learning until Sept. 24, officials said in a letter to families. The K-5 school enrolls about 300 students, all of whom are too young to be vaccinated.

“Due to multiple positive cases of COVID-19 in our school, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) has determined that our school building will temporarily close from 9-13-21 to 9-23-21 to help stem the spread of the virus,” principal Tammy Thomas wrote to Emlen families Monday. “Students and staff may not return to our school building during this time.”

In addition, two charter schools — Lindley Academy Charter School and Pan American Academy Charter School — have also been temporarily closed for 14 days due to COVID-19 cases, a city spokesperson said Wednesday.

“In general, most transmission is not happening in school, it’s happening at home,” acting Health Secretary Cheryl Bettigole said Wednesday. She said the best way to keep school buildings open is for parents to get themselves and their eligible children vaccinated, and to not send their kids to school when they’re sick.

“I think most of us imagined most of the spread happening in school, because all these kids are together,” Bettigole said. “But it’s typically the adults bringing it home, and then spreading it in the house.

» READ MORE: COVID-19 has closed the first Philly public school two weeks into the year

— Rob Tornoe

Almost everyone hospitalized and killed by COVID-19 in Philadelphia since January have been unvaccinated, acting Health Secretary Cheryl Bettigole said during a news briefing Tuesday.

Since January, only 3.5% of people who tested positive for COVID-19 and were sick enough to go to a Philadelphia hospital were fully vaccinated, Bettigole said. To put it another way, more than 96% of people hospitalized with the virus in the city since the beginning of the year have been unvaccinated.

The same goes for deaths. Of the 1,184 Philadelphians who died after contracting COVID-19, 98.2% were unvaccinated, Bettigole said.

Even as the more-transmissible delta variant has spread, fully vaccinated people have largely remained protected from severe cases of the virus. In August, 343 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Philadelphia, and about 80% of those severe cases — 277 people — were people who were not yet fully vaccinated, Bettigole said.

“These vaccines work,” Bettigole said during a COVID-19 news briefing Wednesday. “The overall number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths has really dropped are more and more of us have gotten vaccinated.”

Bettigole cited Philadelphia’s rising vaccine rate as the reason hospitals across town aren’t overflowing with COVID-19 patients.

“By getting fully vaccinated, you’re not only lowering your chances of having severe COVID, but you’re also lowering the risk of everyone who’s around you,” Bettigole said. “Being vaccinated is the best way to protect your loved one, including and especially children who can’t get vaccinated yet.”

— Rob Tornoe

Daily COVID-19 case counts are dropping in Philadelphia, acting Health Secretary Cheryl Bettigole announced during a news briefing Wednesday.

Over the past week, Philadelphia reported 1,061 new COVID-19 cases. That’s down 34% from the previous week, when the city reported 1,610 new cases.

Philadelphia is now averaging 250 new cases a day, down from a high of 313 per day on Sept. 4, Bettigole said, and just 4% of COVID-19 tests the city received last week came back as positive.

“That’s a good sign that we’re catching most of the virus that’s circulating,” Bettigole said.

COVID-19 hospitalizations rose slightly over the past week, but remain far below the levels experienced by the city in December. Bettifole said hospitalization numbers tend to lag behind the trend in cases.

“It’s a slow disease,” Bettigole said. “I’m still feeling reasonably confident that we’re not going to see a sharp rise in hospitalizations, unless our case numbers go up a lot.”

— Rob Tornoe

The vast majority of Pennsylvanians who have contracted the coronavirus in 2021 were not vaccinated, state officials said Tuesday, releasing new data on infections they said should persuade all eligible residents to get their shots.

Through early September, there have been nearly 640,000 positive cases of COVID-19 across the state, close to 35,000 hospitalizations, and almost 6,500 deaths. But 97% of the deaths were in people who were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, according to state data, as were 95% of hospitalizations and 94% of confirmed cases.

“The vaccine is continuing to do its job even against more recent variants including the delta variant,” acting Health Secretary Alison Beam said at a news conference. “No vaccine has 100% efficacy, so post-vaccination cases are to be expected. It’s important to also remember that COVID-19 vaccines were developed to help people stay out of the hospital and avoid death, not just [avoid] positive cases.”

» READ MORE: Unvaccinated people account for 94% of the new coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania this year, state health officials say

— Erin McCarthy and Justine McDaniel

Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to rise in Philadelphia and the surrounding region, but the pace has slowed in recent weeks — especially in New Jersey, which has a higher vaccination rates than Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers for the region, according to data from the New York Times and the Department of Health and Human Services:

Pennsylvania

New Jersey

Delaware

— Rob Tornoe