Mayor Jim Kenney urged Philadelphians to stay safe as they shop on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.
He asked shoppers to wear masks, maintain social distancing, avoid long lines and utilize online or curbside pick-up options if possible.
“And of course, take this opportunity to patronize our local businesses who need our support now more than ever,” Kenney said.
Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, during the city’s COVID-19 press briefing Tuesday, said his department has been sending outreach workers this week to retailers to make sure they are following new capacity limits.
Shops are required to limit the number of people in their business to five per thousand square feet, or about 5% of their legal occupancy.
Farley said the outreach was to make sure store owners were aware of the restrictions, which were announced last Friday, and not related to Black Friday.
On Wednesday, coronavirus case counts in Philadelphia continued to rise—1,246 additional cases were confirmed, bringing the city’s total to 63,026 since the start of the pandemic. According to the city’s Department of Health, there are currently 714 patients being treated for COVID-19 at Philadelphia hospitals and 51 are on ventilators.
