PHILADELPHIA - While Philadelphia health officials remain optimistic that the city will eventually lift its indoor mask mandate as the wave of COVID-19 cases recedes, they're not ready to pull back restrictions just yet.
Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said COVID-19 cases have dropped by 50% since last week, but Philadelphia is still seeing more than 500 new infections each day.
Major U.S. cities hit hard by the pandemic like San Francisco, have started to ease some of the harshest restrictions due to a waning number of COVID-19 cases.
Health experts blame the winter surge on the omicron variant which was found to be less lethal but highly transmissible. LATEST COVID-19 HEADLINES"If you think about where we are with this particular wave and case rates right now, we're probably several months away from a place where we will have the kind of safety to drop all the current restrictions," Bettigole said.