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COVID Cases On the Rise,
But New Normal Here To Stay
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
P hiladelphia reimplemented its
indoor mask mandate on April
18, a preemptive action to mit-
igate the county’s rising COVID cases
— up 81% from two weeks ago, accord-
ing to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention — and subsequent rise
in hospitalizations.

The FDA’s March 29 approval of a
second booster shot for those over age
50 was yet another measure to try to
quell the pandemic’s impact.

“We believe that things aren’t at a
crisis level right now, but that if we take
action now, we can head off the worst of
this wave,” Philadelphia Department
of Public Health Media Coordinator
Matthew Rankin said. “We don’t yet
know if BA.2 is going to cause a real
surge in Philadelphia or just a brief
increase in cases.”
Though the large public health bod-
ies have been quick to sound alarm
bells, for Jewish Philadelphians, new
public health protocols are old hat, an
indication that the pandemic is becom-
ing endemic and something with which
people are learning to live.

“When it’s recommended either by
the state or the health department I’ll
do it, no matter what other people are
doing,” said Deena Pollock, an East
Falls resident, of the mask mandate.

Pollock is planning on receiving her
second booster but admitted it won’t
change much for her. She’s already din-
ing at indoor restaurants but would be
reluctant to travel in an airplane even
after getting the shot.

It’s a balance Pollock has found over
the past two years of being “sad, but not
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depressed.” She attends Golden Slipper
Gems events and volunteers virtually,
and while COVID still provides an
underlying fear, Pollock has learned to
live with it.

According to Dr. Eric Sachinwalla,
an infectious disease physician at
Einstein Healthcare Network, Pollock’s
story is similar to others he’s heard.

Th ose interested in getting a second
shot — who only represent a small frac-
tion of the U.S. population according to
PDPH — are already more likely to take
precautions against COVID-19, under-
mining the necessity of the booster.

“ Th ere’s a lot of debate about what
should be the best approach from a
the vaccine should be to prevent serious
illness, which is mediated by memory
cells, which really aren’t boost-able.”
Th ese memory cells, or t-cells, will
take time to develop, and a booster,
especially one with the same formula
as the initial three shots, will do little
to assist in their development.

Th e lack of communication in the
purpose of the vaccine has set unre-
alistic benchmarks of what success is
defi ned as during a pandemic. Cases
are no longer a good indicator of risk,
as so many are mild. Soon, the preva-
lence and severity of COVID will likely
start to mirror the seasonal fl u, but
Offi t predicts that the number of cases
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Philadelphia’s indoor mask mandate
was reimplemented on April 18,
but many Jewish Philadelphians are
either already cautious or amenable
to adapting to the mandate.

public health perspective,” Sachinwalla
said. “Should we be focusing on getting
the people who are at high risk fourth
doses, or should we really be focusing
on getting the people who are at zero
doses started on getting fi rst, second,
third doses? And there’s merit to both
of those arguments.”
Dr. Paul Offi t, director of the Vaccine
Education Center at the Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia, who is Jewish,
off ers additional skepticism about the
second booster, describing it as “low
risk, low benefi t.”
For those over 70 with pre-existing
conditions, the booster provides addi-
tional protection for a short time. But
for those under 70 who are relatively
healthy, it does very little, as a third
dose also serves to prevent serious
infection and hospitalization.

Th ough interest in a second booster
isn’t necessarily detrimental, it’s also a
false solution to ending the pandemic for
those trying to avoid infection altogether.

“Th e biggest problem in all this is
that we haven’t defi ned what the goal of
the vaccine is,” Offi t said. “Th e goal of
and hospitalizations will stay relatively
low for now.

“We’re going to have to have a fun-
damental shift in how we think about
this virus because right now we are
intolerant to mild infection,” Offi t
said. Jill Caine, past president of Golden
Slipper Gems, off ers a glimpse of a pos-
sible future. She received her second
booster to provide additional protec-
tion for herself and the older popula-
tion she works with but has noticed
a trend among her old friends: Th ey
have begun to take more risks aft er
their second boosters, going on fl ights
around the country on vacation.

Th ey’re in their twilight years, Caine
said, and they aren’t willing to spend
any more of their lives waiting around.

“Th is is something that we’re prob-
ably going to have to live with for the
rest of our lives,” Caine said. “And
you can’t be in your house for the rest
of your life. You have to start living
again.” JE
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