Fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant, the coronavirus infection rate in Chester County was reclassified by the CDC. It went from “moderate” to “substantial” on Thursday, writes Rob Tornoe for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
This change in the classification precipitates the recommendation that all residents — whether vaccinated or not — wear masks while indoors in public.
The CDC defines the “substantial” transition on the basis of 50-99.99 total new cases per 100,000 persons in the past seven days.
Chester County’s rate for the past week averaged more than 54 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people. The fear of backsliding in light of the Delta variant is causing a reexamination of school and work policies regarding masks and the wholesale promotion of vaccinations.
The total number of new cases in the past seven days was 286, a 60 percent increase over last week. The county now has a test positivity rate of 3.8 percent, while the share of fully vaccinated people is now at 50.4 percent.
Other collar counties and Philadelphia also had their classification of the COVID-19 spread bumped up to “substantial” earlier this week.
Read more about the increasing spread of COVID-19 in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
