Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley, speaking today at the city's daily press briefing, said the situation today with COVID-19 in the city is about that same as it has been for the past few days,

Farley reported 615 new cases of COVID-19 in Philadelphia, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 10,643. He said, however, that a significant number of those cases were reclassified cases that had originally been attributed to a different county. Some were as old as 10 days. He said the number of recent new cases in the city was closer to 400 -- consistent with the recent rate of cases over the past week.

Farley also said reported an additional 29 deaths in Philadelphia, bringing the total number of city resident fatalities from COVID-19 to 423. Nursing homes continued to account for more than 50% of fatalities with 220 fatalities among nursing home residents.

The Department of Public Health also reported 949 patients with COVID-19 are currently being treated in Philadelphia hospitals and 1,824 people hospitalized in the southeast Pennsylvania region. While those numbers continue to rise, Farley said that area hospitals continue to have 30% of general hospital bed capacity and 10% of ICU bed capacity free.

He also noted that the temporary hospital at Temple University's Liacouras Center had six patients and expected to have more today.

Air Pollution

At the conclusion of his remarks today, Farley noted that after a month of state-wide stay-at-home orders, the city's air was dramatically healthier now than it had been in the past. He reported the following:

• Nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, dropped about 22 percent.
• Fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which has been shown to aggravate asthma, dropped about 18 percent.
• Carbon monoxide, or CO, dropped by 25 percent.

For the latest in city data and information, see phila.gov/covid-19