New COVID-19 restrictions begin on Friday

On Nov 12 Philadelphia’s daily confirmed COVID-19 cases surpassed that of April by double. Just four short days later on Monday, Nov 16, Mayor Kenny released an executive order introducing a new set of restrictions that will take effect on Friday, Nov 20 at 5pm.

These restrictions will be similar to those of June. Gym’s, museums, and movie theaters will close down, and indoor dining will no longer be allowed. Where this order differs is that retail and personal care such as barbershops and nail salons will be allowed to remain open, but with restrictions of 5 people per 1,000 sqft. 

This new order provides additional requirements for mask-wearing. It describes the proper way to wear a mask, stating that a mask should cover the wearer’s mouth and nose completely when around a person from another household, whether indoors or out. 

According to statistics gathered by phila.gov mask-wearing over the past month has fluctuated by 5 percent throughout. People are not consistently wearing masks and this is evident in the statistics as well as what we see out and about. People walking around with masks in their hands.

Wearing a mask is not a matter of personal preference but of protecting the members within our community. The CDC has proven that mask-wearing is a method of protection for those around you by providing a barrier to keep your germs to yourself. 

“An investigation of a high-exposure event, in which 2 symptomatically ill hair stylists interacted for an average of 15 minutes with each of 139 clients during an 8-day period, found that none of the 67 clients who subsequently consented to an interview and testing developed infection.” The CDC website then mentioned that “The stylists and all clients universally wore masks in the salon as required by local ordinance and company policy at the time.”

This and many other studies that can be found on the CDC’s website show the importance of masks in flattening the curve.

There are many students who are also essential workers who attend CCP who have been directly affected due to either their jobs closing down or contracting COVID themselves. 

If you are one of those students you should note that additional CARES Act Student Emergency Grant funds are available this semester. You can click here to apply for the grant, it’s a simple and short process that could help you in light of this necessary partial shutdown.