PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Department of Public Health today reported an additional 11,565 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Philadelphia since last reported on Monday, August 23. This brings the total number of fully vaccinated Philadelphians to at least 808,801, and the number of Philadelphians with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to at least 988,679. Currently, 65.1 percent of Philadelphia adults are fully vaccinated, and 79.6 percent of Philadelphia adults have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

The Department of Public Health reports 201 patients with COVID-19 are currently being treated in Philadelphia hospitals, with a total of 18 on ventilators.

In the last two weeks, six percent of COVID-19 tests in Philadelphia have come back positive. Thus far during the pandemic, 153,230 Philadelphians have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 3,799 have succumbed to the virus. Philadelphia is averaging 276 new cases of COVID-19 per day over the last two weeks.

Philly Vax Sweepstakes Results Released: The University of Pennsylvania’s Behavior Change for Good Initiative and Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics have released results of an evaluation of the Philly Vax Sweepstakes, a unique city sweepstakes that they designed, funded and implemented. The evaluation produced mixed estimates of the benefits of the sweepstakes on Philadelphia’s overall vaccination rate. Focusing on the effect of randomly selecting certain Philadelphia zip codes to have much greater odds of winning prizes in each of the three drawings, the research team’s evaluation does not show significant benefits from elevating the odds of winning prizes by 50-100x for residents across the three selected zip codes. They can bound the benefits of this policy for boosting vaccinations at ten percent. These findings provide critical new information at a time when global COVID-19 vaccinations are of paramount importance, indicating that policymakers should not expect large returns from running targeted vaccine sweepstakes at this stage in the pandemic. Read the full report: “An Experiment Evaluating the Impact of Large-Scale, High-Payoff Vaccine Regret Lotteries.”

Approved Weekend Street Closures for Outdoor Dining (August 27-29): In June 2020, the City launched four new options for restaurants to operate outdoor dining in order to earn much needed revenue. To see this weekend’s approved street closures, view this blog. Vehicular traffic should avoid these streets.

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