BA.5 gains dominance, but it’s not a super virus | Coronavirus Updates Newsletter

The gist: This week, concerns continue to mount over the BA.5 subvariant, which, while now dominant in the United States, isn’t some kind of super-virus, and current vaccines remain effective. Still, COVID cases keep rising right alongside the risk of developing long COVID, and local researchers are working to figure out why. And as the pandemic drags on, some towns in the Philadelphia suburbs plan on closing some streets on weekends indefinitely to help keep foot traffic up.

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

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While the virus has mutated substantially since the beginning of the pandemic, the BA.5 subvariant is still the coronavirus. To that end, the good news is that the vaccines we already have remain remarkably effective at preventing serious illness and death from COVID infections, even those caused by BA.5. And scientists predict that someday, we’ll have a “pan-coronavirus” vaccine that protects people against all variants and other, related viruses.

🔬 COVID-19 cases keep rising and so does the risk of long COVID. Researchers at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania are trying to understand why.

💰 Since the pandemic started, some towns in the Philly suburbs started closing their streets on weekends. And places like Phoenixville might never stop in order to help continue attracting visitors.

⚾ Four unvaccinated Phillies players, including J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm, have been placed on the restricted list, causing them to forfeit two days of pay and major-league service time.

📱 Throughout the pandemic, most of us have become more familiar with home food delivery services. Now, there’s a Philly-based app that compares them all to find the quickest, cheapest options.

🌼 Philadelphia’s 400-plus community gardens have long been oases to city dwellers and became even more popular during the pandemic. Now, more than two years in, they’re still trying to catch up.

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

We’re asking what’s making your life better right now as you navigate the pandemic. Here’s what you told us:

💗 “The Lutheran Settlement House senior center! It allows me to have a safe social life & stay active. Everyone looks out for each other while enjoying our day.”

Earlier this week, Gov. Tom Wolf said that Pennsylvania would get three new state parks thanks to hundreds of millions of the dollars the state has received from the American Rescue Plan Act. And while he didn’t say where they’d be, a state official hinted that one will likely be of interest to folks in the Philly region, and encouraged us to “stay tuned.”

🍽️ The city isn’t the only place in the region with hot new restaurants — in fact, the ‘burbs have plenty to go around. Here, we’ve rounded up 26 options in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

🎣 A Pennsylvania man recently hauled in a possible world-record, 222.54-pound stingray in the Delaware Bay. Right now, it’s all over but the paperwork.

🏫 Hit comedy Abbott Elementary earned seven Emmy nominations this week — and creator, writer, and star Quinta Brunson, a Philly native, made awards show history in the process.

After a two-year COVID hiatus, hundreds of horror and sci-fi fans packed Phoenixville’s Colonial Theatre over the weekend — and then, as is tradition, they all ran out in a panic. That’s all thanks to the return of Blobfest, a three-day celebration of the 1958 science fiction classic The Blob, which filmed at the historic theater and several nearby locales. And for fans, it brought back a sense of normalcy — or, at least as normal as Blobfest can be.