Citing an ethical duty — and a public health imperative — to get the COVID-19 vaccine to the communities who have been hardest hit by the virus, the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium will enforce stricter rules around getting the vaccine at their clinics, the group’s founder, Ala Stanford, said at a press conference Wednesday.

”The amount of disease and death in the Black community from COVID-19 is unrelenting,” Stanford said. “The number of individuals with no health conditions who have never set foot in Black neighborhoods [coming to get vaccines] in the past month has been unconscionable.”

In recent weeks, the group — which has been running testing sites in Black communities for nearly a year — has seen their vaccination client demographic shift, from 90% Black to 50% Black. The group will halt sign-ups for its vaccination clinics until it’s gotten through a backlog of nearly 46,000 people who registered with the group.

And, going forward, people who come to Black Doctors’ vaccination sites must live in Philadelphia.

“Your ID, your utility bill must match your address and your name,” she said.

Philadelphians over 75 will be able to get vaccinated at Black Doctors’ sites. People under that age will be required to prove they have a medical condition or a high-risk profession included in the 1B vaccination group. Those under 75 will also have to prove they live in a high-risk zip code in Philadelphia, communities where hospitalizations and deaths have been highest. The group was expected to post a list of those zip codes on its site on Wednesday.

After the group is done vaccinating the 46,000 pre-registered clients — probably by the first week of March, Stanford said — vaccination clinics will operate on a first-come, first-served basis, registering patients on-site. “That’s the only fair way to do it,” Stanford said. “There’s so many people that don’t have access to a computer or access to a phone.”

”It’s just the wrong thing to do, to come to communities and take it away from folks [who live in communities] where one in two people have known someone with severe disease, or someone who died from COVID. Or they’re still living the life of a long-hauler and they can’t go back to work. Or they don’t have a choice to stay at home and shelter in place,” Stanford told reporters. “So please, stop doing this. And if you can’t stop, we’re going to help you, because we’re going to be much more stringent.”

Stanford said she’d been spurred to tighten criteria around her group’s clinics after reading news reports from around the country about affluent people traveling to poorer communities to claim scarce doses of the COVID-19 vaccine — and seeing similar scenarios play out at her own clinics.

Stanford said she believed that some people coming to consortium clinics from outside communities they’re being held in may simply be turning to one of the most visible organizations in the city still handing out vaccines in the wake of the city’s disastrous, now-scuppered partnership with Philly Fighting COVID.

Others, she said, may be misrepresenting where they live or what medical conditions make them eligible for the vaccine. Stanford said she’d been alarmed to receive an email recently from a woman who said she knew two people who “weren’t Black or brown, don’t live in the community, and are not sick” who had gotten vaccines through the group.

Stanford had also been concerned that people in poorer Black neighborhoods, especially those without access to technology, were being shunted aside by white Philadelphians with more time and easier transportation to the sites.

She said she’d been struck by a pair of Black sisters, both over 75, who had come to a clinic in their neighborhood hoping to get a vaccine. The older sister, who was in her 80s, had asked if it was okay for her to get a vaccine, even though she hadn’t registered online: She had been unable to access the consortium’s website.

“They’re pausing to ask if they’re okay,” she said. “And folks that drove up from West Philly and Center City Philly are demanding that they get vaccinated. When is this mess going to stop?”

Stanford said she had been disappointed in institutions around the city that had chosen to vaccinate employees who were not in medical fields — like the Public Health Management Corporation, which initially offered doses to employees who weren’t yet eligible for the vaccine, WHYY reported this week.

”We’re not going to be another testing or vaccination location that was set up for the underserved and then have that overrun by everyone else,” she said. “No one was messing with us — meaning, we were in ‘undesirable’ neighborhoods where people don’t want to be at night, taking care of folks that no one wants to take care of. Now that we have this vaccine in the community, now, all of a sudden, people are interested in coming to the Black community?”

Stanford noted that the consortium’s decision is also based on public health concerns. It’s important, she said, to try to halt the spread of the virus in communities where it’s spreading most rampantly.

”If you take vaccines from communities where it’s spreading the most, you’re hurting yourself. We’re not going to get to herd immunity any faster — we’re going to be in this situation even longer,” she said. “You will have gotten your vaccine but you won’t be able to do anything with it.”

» READ MORE: Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium to tighten requirements around vaccine distribution

— Aubrey Whelan

In anticipation of a possible spike in coronavirus cases after the President’s Day holiday weekend, the Deptford Township schools will switch to remote learning next week, School Superintendent Arthur E. Dietz said.

Dietz announced the decision in a letter to parents Wednesday and noted that the Gloucester County district has identified 20 positive cases among students and staff since schools reopened for in-person and hybrid learning on Jan. 12.

Deptford will be fully virtual Feb. 16 to 19. Including weekends, that will give the district 10 straight days with limited access to its schools, he said.

“This decision has not been made lightly,” Dietz wrote. “We understand the hardships caused by removing in-person days from our schedule.”

— Melanie Burney

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who is quarantining at home after a family member tested positive for the coronavirus, declined to say which family member has tested positive for coronavirus, but said first lady Tammy Murphy has tested negative.

Murphy has said he and the first lady have taken precautions even in their home, like not sitting at the same table with their four children when eating and leaving windows open even in cold weather. Asked how the family member became exposed, Murphy said it was not clear but that the person “has not been in any big room settings with lots of people on top of each other.”

New Jersey has now administered almost 900,000 first doses of vaccine, and more than 264,000 people are now fully vaccinated. A total of about 100 CVS and Rite Aid pharmacies will soon start administering vaccines as soon as next week, Murphy said. The state is expected to receive more doses of vaccine over the next few weeks, health officials said, about 155,000 per week. Pharmacies will receive additional doses.

The state added 3,740 cases and 88 deaths. More than 20,000 New Jerseyans have died since the pandemic began, a number that “takes your breath away,” Murphy said.

—Allison Steele

Montgomery County has now identified four confirmed cases of a highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom, officials announced Wednesday.

The four individuals reported mild to moderate symptoms and did not require hospital care, according to County Commission chair Valerie Arkoosh. None of the individuals reported any domestic or international travel.

The county also confirmed additional COVID-19 cases linked to the individuals. Those cases are considered probable for the B.1.1.7 variant strain, but have yet to be confirmed by genomic sequencing, Arkoosh said.

”All of this signals to us that the variant is likely much more widespread within the community than can be confirmed through lab testing,” Arkoosh said. “According to the CDC, the variant spreads more easily and quickly compared to the other variants, and this is another reminder that we must all continue to wear our masks, maintain social distancing, keep our hands clean and away from our face, and avoid social gatherings.”

Montgomery County also announced a new hotline for general questions about COVID-19 and the vaccine, but Arkoosh said residents won’t immediately be able to make vaccine appointments on the phone.

The number is 833-875-3967, and live operators will be available from Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

— Rob Tornoe

Philadelphia reported 365 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Wednesday.

The city also announced 14 additional deaths. A total of 2,969 residents have now died of the coronavirus.

Officials have reported a decline in new confirmed cases and deaths in recent weeks, but have warned that the case count remains high.

As of Wednesday, there were 378 coronavirus patients in Philadelphia hospitals, with 56 of them on ventilators.

— Laura McCrystal

Montgomery County is finalizing a new scheduling system that will prevent residents from skipping in line and receiving the COVID-19 vaccine before they’re eligible, County Commission Chair Valerie Arkoosh announced during a press briefing Wednesday.

The system will send out an individualized, single-use hyperlink to schedule an appointment, which Arkoosh hopes the county will have ready for appointments next week.

“We do continue to have issues with people sharing vaccine appointment links. This is not ethical, or moral, and it needs to stop,” Arkoosh said. “Given the scarcity of the vaccine, we need to pull together as a community and make sure the most vulnerable get vaccinated first.”

The county will continue to use PrepMod, a registration software provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which officials have complained has serious flaws. But Arkoosh said the county is looking for a new system to replace it that can handle Pennsylvania’s vaccination reporting requirements.

County officials also suggested that residents eligible for the vaccine apply for appointments at pharmacies and other locations that are offering them, which receive doses directly from the commonwealth and in the near future, the federal government.

“I don’t see why it matters if people are on more than one list,” Arkoosh said. “We have 150,000 people in line, so I don’t care if somebody’s on our list and somebody else’s list. If they don’t need our vaccine we’ll just move on to the next person.”

» READ MORE: Pa. counties are blaming ‘cumbersome’ state-provided software for vaccine registration problems

— Rob Tornoe

Several Philadelphia City Council members and other community leaders, including former Rep. Bob Brady and former mayor John Street, called on Mayor Jim Kenney to open mass vaccination sites at the stadiums, directly criticizing the administration’s efforts so far in administering the vaccine.

“Philadelphia has fumbled a bit along the way in working to get vaccinations out to our residents,” said Councilmember Allan Domb, who organized the news conference at Broad Street and Pattison Avenue in South Philadephia and said he has contacted local companies and organizations in an effort to propose a better vaccination plan.

Officials called this plan “Operation Philly Special,” claiming they have spoken with Eagles leadership and major city health networks. Domb said he has also gained the support of other community groups and would like the Black Doctors COVID Consortium to oversee this effort.

“Everyone we have spoken to, everyone said ‘we want to help. What can we do to help?’” Domb said.

The news conference was the latest blow in the political fight between Kenney and City Council amid fallout over Philly Fighting COVID, the self-proclaimed group of “college kids” that ran a mass vaccination site for the city at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Although President Joe Biden said Sunday that he’d like to work with the NFL to use stadiums as vaccination sites, Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley has said the administration does not support that because it may attract residents of surrounding counties and states and would not advance the city’s goals of ensuring racial equity in the city’s vaccination process.

The Mayor’s Office said in a statement Wednesday that the plan presented by Domb and other Council members would “ensure that white privileged suburban residents of other counties and states are prioritized for vaccination over Black and brown taxpayers of Philadelphia.” Council member Cindy Bass, the chair of the public health and human services committee, said after the news conference she took personal offense to that.

“As an African American woman, born and raised in the city, I’ve lived racism every day. I don’t have the privilege that he has in his skin,” Bass said. “For him to tell me about what I’m doing and it’s wrong for my people I am highly insulted by his statement.”

» READ MORE: Biden wants to use NFL stadiums as vaccine sites, but Philly disagrees

— Ellie Silverman and Laura McCrystal

Montgomery County has closed a mass vaccination clinic at Norristown High School for the rest of the week due to a shortage of vaccine doses, County Commissioners chair Valerie Arkoosh announced during a press briefing Wednesday.

Last week, Montgomery County received just 1,000 vaccine doses intended for residents receiving their first dose, far fewer than expected. The county went through that supply in two days, and as a result the site will remain closed until at least next week, Arkoosh said.

The county expects to receive 3,900 new vaccine doses tomorrow intended for first dose vaccinations next week, and Arkoosh said the county has yet to be shorted on doses intended for second vaccinations.

Through Tuesday, at least 7.13% percent of Montgomery County residents (59,217) have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and slightly more than 2% (16,710) have received two doses. An estimated 256,000 Montgomery County residents remain eligible to receive the vaccine.

Arkoosh said the county is able to administer roughly 2,000 vaccine doses a day, but could ramp that up and roll out more vaccination sites if and when the amount of doses they receive increases.

“Our problem is not giving the vaccine. We had no vaccine to give,” Arkoosh said.

— Rob Tornoe

Why is COVID-19 serious or even deadly for some people, while others don’t even develop symptoms?

One theory, supported by suggestive evidence, is that antibodies to ordinary coronaviruses that cause common colds provide some level of protection against COVID-19.

A new study by University of Pennsylvania researchers, published in Cell, suggests that if there is such protection, it does not come from antibodies. The researchers, led by Penn microbiologist Scott Hensley, analyzed blood samples taken from hundreds of people and stored long before the pandemic started.

One analysis compared blood samples from 251 people who went on to test positive for COVID-19 with samples from 251 people who were not infected with the pandemic virus. About 20% of samples from both groups contained ordinary coronavirus antibodies that “cross-reacted” with the novel coronavirus, binding to its spike protein — the molecule it uses to break into cells.

The fact that similar proportions of both groups had cross-reactive antibodies indicates that the immune response was not protective against COVID-19. What’s more, the severity of COVID-19 did not correlate with the amount of cross-reactive antibodies.

In another analysis, the researchers found that 27 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had elevated levels of cross-reactive antibodies — but the patients still got severely ill.

The question of pre-existing immunity is far from settled. Antibodies to ordinary coronaviruses fade over time, but another arm of the immune response, which involves T cells and B cells, stays vigilant. The new study did not examine whether these cells are protective against COVID-19.

— Marie McCullough

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is quarantining at home after a family member tested positive for the coronavirus, his spokesman said.

“After careful review, the governor does not qualify as an exposed close contact. However, out of an abundance of caution and in line with the highest levels of commitment to protecting public health, the governor will be canceling in-person events and voluntarily quarantining before resuming any in-person engagements,” said communications director Mahen Gunaratna.

Murphy tested negative Wednesday morning as part of his regular testing regime, the statement said. Contact tracing is underway to notify anyone who may have been exposed.

It’s the second time Murphy had to, in his words, “take himself off the field” following a potential exposure. In October, he abruptly left a news conference after learning a member of his staff had tested positive.

Murphy’s regular coronavirus briefing will be held remotely later Wednesday afternoon.

— Allison Steele

Coronavirus numbers continue to decline across Pennsylvania, though officials still urge caution due to the high level of transmission and COVID-19 variants making their way across the country.

Pennsylvania is now averaging just more than 3,800 new cases a day over the past seven days, a 64% drop from a peak of nearly 10,600 cases a day in mid-December. The commonwealth reported 3,378 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, and overall 880,291 Pennsylvania residents have contracted the virus.

Despite the decline, 59 Pennsylvania counties — including Philadelphia and its suburbs — still had a “substantial” level of transmission, according to the Department of Health. Just six counties had a “low” to “moderate” level of transmission.

There are 2,890 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, the lowest number since mid-November but well above the 422 patients who were hospitalized at the end of September, prior to the winter surge.

Pennsylvania reported 125 new COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. Overall, 22,745 Pennsylvanians have died after contracting COVID-19 — 11,896 of whom were residents from nursing homes or longterm care facilities.

— Rob Tornoe

U.S. government researchers found that two masks are better than one in slowing coronavirus spread, but health officials stopped short of recommending that everyone double up.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday reported the results of a lab experiment that spaced two artificial heads 6 feet from each other and checked to see how many coronavirus-sized particles spewed by one were inhaled by the other.

The researchers found that wearing one mask — surgical or cloth — blocked around 40% of the particles coming toward the head that was breathing in. When a cloth mask was worn on top of a surgical mask, about 80% were blocked.

When both the exhaling and inhaling heads were double-masked, more than 95% of the particles were blocked, said the CDC’s Dr. John Brooks.

The study had many limitations: The researchers used one brand of surgical mask and one kind of cloth mask, and it’s not clear if results would be the same with every product. But it echoes some earlier research that suggests two masks are better than one.

The CDC also was updating its guidance to address wearing two masks. If done correctly, a cloth mask worn over a surgical mask can tighten the gaps around the mask’s edges that can let virus particles in, the CDC said.

The agency also said it was taking down a do-it-yourself page, which went up last year when masks were in short supply and the CDC was encouraging people to take steps to interrupt viral transmission.

— Associated Press

At least two students at the University of Pennsylvania have tested positive for the more-contagious U.K. variant of the coronavirus over the past month, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported Wednesday.

Both cases of the strain — known as the B.1.1.7 variant — were linked to travel from the United Kingdom, the student paper reported.

As of Wednesday, seven cases of the variant have been detected in Philadelphia, according to a health department spokesperson, though officials estimate the true number of positive cases is higher.

While scientists continue to research the new strain of COVID-19, current data suggest the U.K. variant is more easily transmissible between people, according to Penn Medicine. However, researchers say it does not appear to make people sicker, or that it has changed enough that the vaccines will not work.

The U.K. strain is difficult to detect, according to Penn Medicine, because it requires the added and laborious step of genetic sequencing testing. The university does not conduct genetic sequencing for each student sample, Chief Operating Officer for Wellness Services Erika Gross told the Daily Pennsylvanian, so it is impossible to say whether there have been more than two cases of the U.K. variant on Penn’s campus.

Penn welcomed students back to campus in January after having conducted the fall semester online. Last week, the university’s COVID-19 case positivity rate doubled from 1.1% the week before to 2.2%. The positivity rate among undergraduate students last week was 4.47%, according to the school’s dashboard.

Penn last week sent an alert to students warning of “worrisome trends in the positivity rate of COVID-19 in our undergraduate student population,” cautioning that if “trends don’t reverse,” the university may move to heightened campus-wide “Safer at Home” restrictions.

In a study released last month, the Centers for Disease Control found increased cases in counties with large campuses of 20,000 or more.

» READ MORE: Testing, testing, and more testing on college campuses this spring as coronavirus concerns remain

— Oona Goodin-Smith

Philadelphia launched a preregistration website for the coronavirus vaccine last month, allowing residents to get in the virtual line for inoculation.

But it also left some people out. Residents must have internet access to register, and the form is only available in English and Spanish.

The health department’s call center (available at 215-685-5488), has only nine staff members answering phones to help residents complete the online form. Health department spokesperson James Garrow said the call center has been receiving three times its normal call load. The city is working to increase staffing and have 20 full-time workers taking calls, he said.

Garrow said the city also hopes the 311 call center can soon begin helping residents with vaccine registration.

“This has to do with staffing and capacity,” Garrow said. “We’ve seen in other cities and states that throwing open a call center without capacity to handle the influx of calls can lead to frustrating waits.

» READ MORE: Philly residents have to go online to sign up for the coronavirus vaccine. But what about people who can’t?

— Laura McCrystal

Officials in New Jersey, Montgomery County, and the White House will offer coronavirus updates on Wednesday. Here’s a schedule of how to watch and stream:

— Rob Tornoe

New Jersey residents aren’t taking up smoking to jump in line to receive the coronavirus vaccine, according to Gov. Phil Murphy.

“There may be some of that, no question. No system is perfect,” Murphy said during an interview on CNBC Wednesday morning. “There’s not a lot of it, based on all the evidence we have.”

The issue came up when Murphy was asked why teachers in New Jersey aren’t eligible to be vaccinated, but smokers are.

Murphy said vaccinations are being done among the two groups of New Jersey residents the state considers most at-risk of serious illness from the virus — people age 65 and older, and people under 65 with chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, a heart condition, cancer, and obesity.

New Jersey residents who smoke are included in the state’s high-risk group, with no documentation required, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It’s a false choice to compare smokers versus someone else,” Murphy said. “Anyone who’s under 65 who is the most vulnerable — including if you’re an essential worker or an educator — you’re eligible right now.”

— Rob Tornoe

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey all reported modest increases in the number of vaccine doses received this week. Philadelphia is getting more than 25,000 doses, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said, about 5,000 more than usual. Plus, Rite Aid pharmacies are receiving more than 4,000 doses directly.

“But remember,” he said, “we have 1.2 million adults in the city of Philadelphia, so it will certainly be many months before everybody has an opportunity to get vaccinated.”

Philadelphia launched a new website, phila.gov/businessvaccine, where employers of essential workers can preregister to be notified when vaccine is available for their employees.

Pennsylvania officials said the state received 12,200 more doses this week than last, but they could not say whether three of the four most populated counties the state Department of Health serves — Allegheny, Montgomery, and Delaware — would receive more doses than the 1,000 apiece they got last week.

Department of Health senior adviser Lindsey Mauldin also could not say when Pennsylvanians in the next eligibility group, which includes many frontline essential workers, will be allowed to get shots.

Still, the Health Department is aiming to open vaccinations to the general public by the summer, Mauldin said, despite flawed state-provided registration software and a vaccine supply so limited it has stalled some counties’ efforts.

— Justine McDaniel, Sean Collins Walsh and Erin McCarthy

— John Duchneskie

Restaurants in Philadelphia can bring more diners indoors this weekend if they install enhanced ventilation systems, officials said Tuesday, and the city plans to open three new mass vaccination clinics the week of Feb. 22.

Restaurant operators can expand indoor occupancy to 50% of their capacity starting Friday if they can document that their ventilation, whether through an HVAC system or window fans, sufficiently circulates the air at least 15 times per hour, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said.

Many restaurant owners estimate that an indoor occupancy of at least 50% is what they need to break even amid the coronavirus pandemic. But the new ventilation requirements mean spending more money, and some restaurateurs pushed back against the guidelines.

In a letter to the city, four restaurant operators who had been advising officials complained that their weekly meetings “were too brief and controlled to allow us meaningful input” and said the plan unveiled Tuesday “is inequitable, unscientific, unclear, and unenforceable.”

» READ MORE: Philly restaurants can expand indoor dining if they boost ventilation. Critics call the plan ‘unclear’ and ‘unenforceable.’

— Justine McDaniel and Michael Klein

— John Duchneskie