Philadelphia first shuttered its restaurant and retail scene in mid-March, when daily coronavirus positivity rates were at about 12% and the city was conducting fewer than 1,000 tests a day.
On Friday, Philadelphia logged a record-breaking 1,100 COVID-19 cases, and last week the city recorded a positivity rate of about 16% with more than 4,000 tests performed. COVID-related hospital admissions and death rates, though, remain far behind the spike in cases.
Compared to other big cities, Philadelphia has the second-highest COVID-19 positivity rate behind Chicago. The city’s impending partial shutdown is designed to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and to remind residents to take the pandemic seriously.
New food businesses like Izlas had to pivot from fine dining and bar-heavy menus to food offerings more suitable for delivery. The restaurant’s first days after the coronavirus shutdown were dull, Mclendon said.
“When we first opened back up from COVID … we had days where I would sleep in here on this little couch,” she said, referring to a booth in the dining area. “We probably had three, four orders a day.”