Thread by @billy_penn

The city's hosting a press conference in a few minutes dedicated to two topics: coronavirus recovery, and the police shooting of West Philadelphia resident Walter Wallace Jr.

Follow this thread for updates

https://twitter.com/PHLPublicHealth/status/1321134279951216641

Starting with an update from Health Commissioner @DrTomFarley: Philly is seeing rising case counts, "what appears to be the beginning of a fall winter surge," Farley said.

- 340 new cases since yesterday
- 42,924 total confirmed cases
- 22 new probably cases from rapid tests

Last week, Philly averaged 296 new cases per day. That’s the highest weekly case count since the first week of May, @DrTomFarley says.

The percent positivity rate is also increasing. Last week, Philly averaged 7.2% of people who were tested receiving a positive result. That's the highest percent positive since the first week of June, and Farley expects it to rise further.

The coronavirus case increase is being seen in every age group — from children to people in their 70s — every racial group and every ZIP code.

Now, @DrTomFarley says, it’s time to start monitoring hospital capacity to make sure they don't become overwhelmed.

Now there are 211 patients currently in Philly hospitals with COVID. That's up from ~90 in late September — and still leaves plenty of capacity for new patients

Since yesterday, Philly has seen 5 new deaths from coronavirus — 1,864 since beginning of the pandemic

Fortunately the mortality rate is going down. That's probably because the city is identifying more asymptomatic patients, and hospitals are getting better at treating the virus

The latest info from Philly's contact tracers shows the virus is spreading within households, at social gatherings and celebrations. There's some early indication that it might also be spreading at restaurants, @drtomfarley says

The overall message: The virus is spreading rapidly, and will likely spread further with colder weather and drier air. We're approaching "possibly the worst period of the entire epidemic," Farley said.

He recommends you cancel your holiday plans

Meantime, the city's going to try to fight the surge by:
- Increasing testing
- Having contact tracers give guidelines to people so they can do their own contact tracing
- Possibly instituting new restrictions on activities

Now the health update is being translated to Spanish

Now onto the second half of the press conference, focused on the police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. in West Philadelphia yesterday

First, @PhillyMayor says he's committed to bringing justice. He says he watched the video of Wallace's killing and spoke with his family after.

"I have children that age and I cannot imagine their heartbreak," Kenney said

Protests yesterday were "further evidence of the anguish of Black and brown residents" in Philly, Kenney said.

He wished the ~30 police officers who sustained minor injuries a speedy recovery, and asked people not to do any further damage to businesses, especially on 52nd St

Technical issues getting Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw on the line. Stay tuned.

Outlaw is here now

She confirms she's directed the officer-involved shooting unit to begin its investigation. “There are many questions that demand answers,” Outlaw said.

Outlaw said she's going to visit a West Philly community meeting tonight to hear residents' concerns, then attend several other meetings in the coming days.

Commissioner Outlaw says the PPD is still determining whether they're going to release the officers' names or other evidence in connection with the shooting.

During protests last night, Outlaw said some officers sustained cuts and bruises. Another officer was hit by a pickup truck and broke her leg. Now she's in stable condition

8 PPD vehicles were damaged, including 1 set on fire. And 1 Fire Dept vehicle's windshield was broken

A roundup of arrests last night, per Outlaw:
- 91 total arrests, including 11 for assaults on police and 76 for burglary
- 3 CVNs for failure to disperse

In the coming days, Outlaw said the PPD is planning to increase its officer presence in the neighborhood, including the looting response team, deployed to commercial districts, and traffic patrol in place for protests.

The PPD says it needs more help. Outlaw has requested mutual aid assistance from police forces in surrounding counties