Cases rising, again | Coronavirus Updates Newsletter

The gist: The number of new cases of COVID-19 is again increasing in Philadelphia, its collar counties, and in New Jersey. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified nearly the entire region as high risk — where just two weeks ago, every county but one was considered low risk. Meanwhile, pandemic lockdowns in China are causing shortages of an injectable dye needed for several types of medical scans. And monkeypox, which recently began making headlines, is almost nothing like COVID.

📥 Tell us: Will the recent rise in cases change your summer plans? Send us a note, and we’ll share some responses in next week’s newsletter. Please keep it to 35 words.

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— Nick Vadala (@njvadala, health@inquirer.com)

In the past couple of weeks, Philadelphia’s number of new COVID-19 cases has sharply risen as a subvariant of omicron continues to spread. Likewise, in New Jersey, the state is facing a steep hike in cases due to the highly transmissible BA. 2.12.1 subvariant. And in the Pennsylvania counties around Philly, the case rate is higher than in the city itself — but lower than in Jersey. What a difference a couple weeks has made in the Philly region:

🏥 COVID-19 lockdowns in China have created shortages of an injectable dye critical for a number of medical scans in the United States, forcing some hospitals to put off procedures.

💉 For some singles, COVID vaccination status can be a deal breaker, but not because they’re afraid of getting sick. Instead, it can determine moral compatibility, experts say.

🦠 Monkeypox is almost nothing like COVID. Here’s what to know, from two Philly scientists who’ve studied it.

💸 The Senate has voted against a $40 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund that would have replenished a federal grant program that sustained 101,000 restaurants. Now what?

📈 Coronavirus cases are increasing in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Track the latest data here.

Last week, we asked how we can help prevent health-care worker burnout. Here’s what you told us:

💖 “To those on the front lines please be inspired and encouraged to know that the huge difference you have made in our world keeping families with cherished family members in our lives has also strengthened.”

Earlier this month, a video of Marybelle Alston, a former Wayne resident, dancing to Janet Jackson’s “All For You” in a pair of Eagles sweatpants went viral. Now, she’s an official member of the Rhythm Nation, thanks to a response from Jackson on Twitter, and a bonafide social media star. Here’s how it happened.

🏳️‍🌈 After a couple years without a Pride event, Philly is getting a reimagined celebration in honor of the 50th anniversary of the city’s first Gay Pride Day.

🍶 Pennsylvania has a lone, thriving sake brewery — but, no, it’s not in Fishtown like you might expect. It’s all the way up in the Poconos.

🌿 Summertime means its shore season, and this will mark our first with legal marijuana in New Jersey. Here’s where to buy weed on your way downashore.

In March 2020, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History closed its doors amid pandemic-related lockdowns, and a crippling bankruptcy filing. But this past weekend, following a large endowment from designer and philanthropist Stuart Weitzman, the museum is back — and debt free.