Pa. loosens restrictions on bars, restaurants, and will allow more fans into stadiums; more Philly schools to resume in-person classes

Philadelphia officials are reviewing what city restrictions might be eased following Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement on Monday that limits that apply elsewhere in Pennsylvania will be loosened starting next month, a city spokesperson said.

“We will review any new changes to statewide restrictions issued by the governor and determine what makes sense for Philadelphia based on our local conditions. As has been the case throughout the pandemic, Philadelphia is able to remain more restrictive than the state when it comes to COVID-19 mitigation guidance,” said city spokesperson Lauren Cox.

The new Pennsylvania rules will go into effect on April 4, Wolf said. Restaurants, for example, will be able to increase their indoor capacity to 75%, up from 50%. Philadelphia currently allows 50% capacity, but only if the restaurant meets ventilation requirements. Otherwise, the city limit is 25%.

— Laura McCrystal

First lady Jill Biden came to a South Jersey elementary school Monday to kick off a nationwide “Help is Here” tour touting the impacts of the new $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.

President Joe Biden and the first lady are traveling across the country on a public relations blitz to celebrate passage of the major legislation signed into law last week. President Biden is coming to Delaware County on Tuesday.

Jill Biden toured Samuel Smith Elementary in Burlington city, a Burlington County public school with 260 students in pre-K through second grade, about 57% of whom are economically disadvantaged. The school is about 35 miles from Hammonton, where Biden was born and spent her early childhood.

» READ MORE: Jill Biden came to a South Jersey school as her husband hits the road to sell the $1.9 trillion stimulus

— Julia Terruso

Philadelphia reported 643 confirmed cases of COVID-19 Monday, representing test results since Friday.

The city also announced four additional deaths. A total of 3,178 residents have now died of the coronavirus.

As of Monday there were 248 coronavirus patients in Philadelphia hospitals, with 37 of them on ventilators.

Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said last week that he was concerned about recent case counts of the virus, which have risen in the past two weeks.

— Laura McCrystal

In-person classes will resume March 22 for 35 more Philadelphia School District schools, officials announced Monday. Prekindergarten through second grade students whose families have signed them up to return to school two days a week will be eligible to come back.

In total, the district has announced a return to in-person learning for 133 of its 152 elementary schools. Officials said they expect to announce return dates for the remainder of district elementary schools on March 22.

Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said he hopes to make announcements weekly about bringing new groups of students in for in-person education; he said he’s hopeful but not certain that all district students will have the option of returning for some in-person education this school year.

The schools are: Bache-Martin, Clara Barton, James G. Blaine, Bridesburg, G.W. Childs, James Dobson, Dunbar, Forrest, Anne Frank, Girard, Gompers, Harrington, J.S. Jenks, Francis Scott Key, Kirkbride, Lingelbach, Lowell, Ludlow, McClure, Meredith, Robert Morris, Motivation High School (preschool only), Nebinger, Pennell, Richmond, Solis-Cohen, South Philadelphia High School (preschool only), Spring Garden, Sullivan, Taggart, George Washington High School (preschool only), S. Weir Mitchell, Ziegler.

Prekindergarten through second grade families whose children are still fully virtual will have the option of signing up to return to school April 5 if they choose.

» READ MORE: Philly students could attend school this summer and stay hybrid in the fall, the superintendent says

— Kristen A. Graham

Pennsylvania gyms, casinos, and other entertainment venues will soon be able to increase their capacity, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday.

On April 4, Easter Sunday, personal services facilities, gyms, and entertainment venues, including casinos, theaters, and malls, may increase their capacities to 75% of capacity, up from 50%, Wolf said.

Starting the same day, indoor events may be held with 25% of maximum occupancy, up from 15%, regardless of venue size, as long as people can keep a six-foot distance from each other, Wolf said. Meanwhile, outdoor events can be attended by 50% of a space’s maximum occupancy, up from 20%, Wolf added, also regardless of venue size and as long as long people can be socially distant.

Establishments must continue to require mask-wearing, stringent cleaning, and other health measures, Wolf said.

Philadelphia currently allows 15% of capacity at indoor venues, and 20% for outdoor venues. If the city once again aligns itself with the commonwealth, it would mean more fans would be allowed into the Wells Fargo Center and Citizens Bank Park for games.

— Erin McCarthy

Pennsylvania restaurants will soon be able to seat up to 75% of their capacity indoors, serve alcohol without food, re-open bar seating as long as it’s socially distant, and move last call past 11 p.m., Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday.

The loosened restrictions are set to go into effect on April 4, Easter Sunday, and will mark the most lenient rules the commonwealth’s restaurants have seen since the coronavirus pandemic began a year ago. The news comes as vaccinations are ramping up and people across the region have begun to feel hopeful about the future.

“Our case counts continue to go down, hospitalizations are declining, and the percent positivity rate gets lower every week — all very positive signs. The number of people getting vaccinated increases daily and we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel,” the governor said in a statement. “It’s time to allow our restaurants, bars, and other service businesses to get back to more normal operations.”

Establishments must continue to require mask-wearing, stringent cleaning, and other health measures, Wolf said, and restaurants must self-certify that they are doing so in order to increase capacity. Restaurants that do not self-certify can serve at 50% capacity.

Since Jan. 4, when a surge-prompted indoor dining shutdown ended, Pennsylvania’s self-certified restaurants have been permitted to seat up to 50% of their capacity indoors. Establishments can only serve alcohol with a meal and last call can’t be later than 11 p.m.

Not included in Monday’s announcement are restaurants in Philadelphia, which abide by the city’s regulations that mandate 50% of capacity indoors if they meet ventilation criteria and 25% if they don’t.

» READ MORE: Pa. easing restrictions on restaurants, Gov. Wolf says

— Erin McCarthy

— Alejandro A. Alvarez

Anthony Fauci suggests Americans should stop fixating over the “elusive number” of herd immunity.

Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser on COVID-19, has estimated that between 70 and 85% of Americans would need to be fully vaccinated to reach herd immunity — when a large enough portion of a population is immune to the virus, causing infection rates to plummet.

“We should not get so fixated on this elusive number of herd immunity,” Fauci told reporters during a White House briefing Monday. “We should just be concerned about getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as we possibly can, because herd immunity is still somewhat of an elusive number.”

At this point, with new mutations and variants emerging, Fauci said it’s impossible to know how many Americans will need to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity. Fauci also said the country doesn’t need to hit a specific number before life can return to normal.

“Why don’t we just say get as many people vaccinated as quickly as you possibly can,” Fauci said. “Every day that goes by now with more than two million doses going into people, we’re getting closer and closer to control of this pandemic.”

— Rob Tornoe

The CDC is revisiting its school reopening guidance following a new study that suggests three feet is enough to keep students and teachers safe, as long as everyone wears a mask.

Currently, the CDC recommends that schools maintain six feet of distance between children to limit the spread of the virus. But a study published last week in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases suggests schools could relax that to three feet without increasing infection rates among staff members or students.

“As soon as we put out our guidance, among the biggest challenges that we were aware of was the fact that schools were having a hard time with the six-feet guidance,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during a White House COVID-19 press briefing Monday. “The question actually prompted more studies to be done, so we know more forthcoming. We’re taking all of those data carefully and revisiting our guidances in that context.”

» READ MORE: Billions of stimulus dollars are coming to Pa. and N.J. schools to help get them open again

— Rob Tornoe

With colleges already competing for fewer high school graduates before the coronavirus pandemic took a toll, Cabrini University is to announce Monday it is cutting programs and staff to stem a deficit and give the college a “sustainable path forward.”

The small Catholic college in Radnor Township, which employs about 250 full time, is eliminating 46 positions, the bulk through voluntary separation agreements, but also including about 10 layoffs and some jobs that will go unfilled.

Perhaps the most significant change is that Cabrini, a liberal arts college that became a university in 2016, will eliminate majors in religious studies, Black studies and philosophy, though they will continue as minors and subject matter will be incorporated into the core curriculum. Overall, 15 of Cabrini’s 69 programs have been tagged for elimination or change, said President Donald B. Taylor.

“You can no longer be all things to all people,” Taylor said, given the pressures of the market.

» READ MORE: Cabrini cuts staff, programs, as coronavirus pandemic and competition take toll

— Susan Snyder

Nearly four million passengers were screened at airports by the Transportation Security Administration from Friday to Sunday, the most in any three day period since the pandemic began, the agency reported. Screenings have topped one million people in eight of the last 11 days.

On Sunday alone, more than 1.34 million passengers were screened, though that is still down 45% compared to the same date in 2019, when more than 2.46 million passengers were screened.

In the United States, the CDC warns against all unnecessary air travel, even for fully vaccinated people. Those who must travel need to take a COVID-19 test one to three days before traveling and three to five days after the trip, according to CDC guidelines. Passengers should self-quarantine for seven days after traveling, even if they’ve tested negative for the virus. Masks are required on all airplanes.

— Rob Tornoe

The coronavirus pandemic has created a mental health crisis as more people need help with anxiety and depression.

Crisis centers and emergency departments at hospitals in the Philadelphia area are feeling the crunch as they are often the first stop for people in a mental health crisis. The next step is an inpatient mental health program for additional treatment or discharge if the patients are judged not to pose a danger to themselves or others.

The wait for a bed often took days even before the pandemic, particularly for children and adolescents. COVID-19 requirements and precautions, such as testing and quarantining, have made placements even harder. Plus, having to spend a lot of time in an emergency room can be especially overwhelming for someone in crisis, experts said, making it more difficult to treat the mental health symptoms.

“There have never been enough psychiatric stabilization beds for kids,” said Roy Leitstein, CEO of Legacy Treatment Services, a behavioral health provider with offices in South Jersey. “Not in New Jersey, not in Pennsylvania, not in the nation. The pandemic has created a whole other layer of challenges associated with those residential crisis stabilization services. The whole system has kind of stopped moving, through nobody’s fault.”

» READ MORE: Philadelphia-area mental health crisis centers and hospitals grapple with shortage of inpatient beds

— Bethany Ao

Over the weekend, the IRS rolled out a new web portal for Americans to track their $1,400 stimulus checks, part of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed by Congress and signed into law last week.

The “Get My Payment” web portal has now been updated for people to track the third round of relief checks, which started hitting back accounts over the weekend.

Individuals who earn $75,000 or less are slated to receive $1,400, and couples making $150,000 or less will be paid $2,800. The payments decrease for individuals who earn $80,000 or more, and for couples who earn $160,000 or more.

Families will also receive an additional $1,400 for each dependent, which this time around includes money for around 13.5 million college students.

The payments will be based off the income reported on 2020 tax returns. For those who have not yet filed their taxes, the IRS will determine eligibility based on 2019 tax returns.

The full eligibility requirements for the coronavirus stimulus payments can be found on the IRS website.

» READ MORE: Stimulus bill poised to send $1,400 checks to millions who were left out of the first payments

— Rob Tornoe

Transportation workers are among the New Jersey residents who are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, under expanded guidelines that went into effect Monday morning.

The expanded list of those now eligible to be vaccinated in the Garden State includes:

NJ Transit is expected to receive 500 vaccine doses this week, according to the Bergen Record. The agency employs roughly 12,000 workers.

On March 29, eligibility will expand further to include other frontline workers, including those in:

All New Jersey residents age 65 or older are eligible to receive a vaccine. Residents between the ages of 16 and 64 with certain medical conditions are also eligible, as are K-12 educators and staff, first responders, and licensed childcare workers.

— Rob Tornoe

COVID-19 cases have remained stubbornly flat in Pennsylvania for the past two weeks, even as the pace of vaccinations has increased.

Pennsylvania is averaging about 2,500 new cases a day over the past seven days. While that’s down dramatically from a pandemic peak of more than 10,000 cases a day in mid-December, it’s significantly higher than the 800 cases a day the commonwealth was averaging during the summer. Pennsylvania is also averaging more cases per day than the initial spike last April, which peaked at just under 1,700 cases a day.

Pennsylvania’s test positivity rate remained at 5.7% last week, flat compared to the previous week, according to the commonwealth’s early warning dashboard.

Health officials are concerned that cases plateauing at a high rate could lead to yet another spike in infections. In Europe, countries like Italy have been forced into more lockdowns as cases skyrocket again, fueled by variants of the virus that spread more easily.

On a more positive note, COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths have continued to steadily decline across the commonwealth, and are now at their lowest levels since early November.

The pace of vaccinations has also increased in Pennsylvania. Including Philadelphia (which manages its own vaccine rollout), about 2.7 million Pennsylvania residents are now fully vaccinated, and another 1.38 million have received at least one dose.

— Rob Tornoe