✨The best takeout in Philly | Morning Newsletter

I’m Katie Krzaczek, an Inquirer editor filling in for Kerith. We’re expecting another peek into spring today, with temperatures reaching the mid-70s — but with rain starting tonight through tomorrow evening.

Even with the dreary forecast, there’s plenty to do to keep your weekend fun (and dry), including concerts, museum exhibits, and the Philly Home Show. If you’re planning on staying in, we have found Philly’s best takeout 🍕🍜🍔🌮, and everything else you need, all in our new ✨ Philly’s Best ✨ tool.

Also, health officials are taking another shot at persuading people to get shots.

— Katie Krzaczek (@hashtagkatie, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

If you’re spending the weekend tuned in to the NCAA tournament from the comfort of your own couch, take a look at the best places to grab takeout.

Whether you’re looking to pair your viewing with some beer, pizza, or the city’s best wings, which are the perfect accompaniment to any sporting event, we’ve got you covered. And we didn’t forget about our veg and vegan friends. Just be sure to order extra vegan ranch along with whatever you order from Triangle Tavern (you’ll thank me later).

Now, you can spend less time cooking and more time agonizing over your bracket jawn.

If takeout’s not your thing, be sure to check out the rest of our new ✨ Philly’s Best ✨ guide.

Our second 💉🔥 Hot Vax Summer 🔥💉 is approaching, but the recent relaxing of mask mandates and other COVID restrictions — as well as the vaccination rate hitting its lowest point since December 2020 — has health experts wondering: Where do we go from here?

😷 The U.S. still hasn’t hit 70% fully vaccinated status — we’re hovering around 65%, and the number of shots being given each day is at an all-time low. Among those who are vaxed, only 44% have gotten a booster.

😷 Some experts say lifting mask mandates and other restrictions, as Philadelphia and New Jersey did, could give unvaccinated folks a false sense of security, meaning they might wait until the next surge to get the jab.

😷 “Vaccination is the foundation of our being protected against future surges of COVID,” said Megan Ranney, emergency physician and academic dean at the Brown University School of Public Health. “As much as we are in a lovely moment of the pandemic right now, we are fooling ourselves if we think that COVID is not sticking around.”

😷 In the meantime, state and county health departments are assessing whether spending time, energy, and money on vaccine outreach will persuade the roughly 30% of Americans who aren’t fully vaccinated to get the shot, or if they should be used on other measures.

Our reporters Justine McDaniel and Erin McCarthy have more on what’s next.

The debate over whether there are more wheels than doors has been dominating the discourse, but how many 🚪 doors 🚪 are in SEPTA’s universe, specifically? Take a guess and find the answer here.

a. 11,920

b. 12,510

c. 13,680

This jingle is the soundtrack to summer in the city.

SEFI REST TOMES

Think you know? Send your guess our way at morningnewsletter@inquirer.com. We’ll give a shoutout to a reader at random who answers correctly. Today’s shoutout goes to Kathy Howland of Ambler, who correctly guessed MEEK MILL as Thursday’s answer.

My colleague Ashley Hoffman will have your Sunday Morning Newsletter as always, and then Kerith will be back Monday to start your week. Have a great weekend, and stay dry. ☂️