for fully vaccinated people, reduced social distancing at restaurants from 6 feet (1.8 m) to 3 feet (0.91 m), and lifted capacity limits at retail stores, museums, and libraries. on may 28, 2021, the city announced it would lift several restrictions on june 2, 2021, having previously announced these restrictions would be lifted on june 11, 2021. on that date, density limits, capacity limits, and social distancing rules were lifted; however, the indoor mask mandate and 11 p.m. last call for dining remained in place. on june 11, the indoor mask mandate and the 11 p.m. last call for dining were lifted. on july 22, 2021, the city again recommended people wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status, due to a rise in cases among unvaccinated people including children. on august 11, 2021, the city announced that effective august 12, masks would be required to be worn inside businesses unless the business requires proof of vaccination. in addition, masks would be required for unseated outdoor gatherings of greater than 1,000 people. beginning on september 1, 2021, new employees hired by the city must be fully vaccinated against covid-19 while current employees will need to either be fully vaccinated or double mask while indoors. on august 13, 2021, the city announced that healthcare workers and students and staff at colleges in philadelphia would be required to be vaccinated by october 15. in addition, the city announced essential businesses including grocery stores, pharmacies, doctors offices, and urgent care centers would only be allowed to have a mask mandate and not the option requiring proof of vaccination. on august 24, 2021, the school board of the school district of philadelphia voted unanimously to mandate teachers and staff be vaccinated against covid-19. on december 13, 2021, the city announced that proof of a covid-19 vaccine would be required for indoor dining at restaurants and food establishments beginning on january 3, 2022. on december 15, 2021, city health officials warned against holiday gatherings involving multiple households due to an increase in cases and hospitalizations. on december 22, 2021, temple university announced that classes for the first three weeks of the spring 2022 semester would be held virtually due to the rise in covid-19 cases caused by the sars-cov-2 omicron variant. on january 3, 2022, the school district of philadelphia announced that 81 schools would switch to virtual learning for the remainder of the week starting on january 4, 2022, due to staffing issues related to the rise in covid-19 cases. on february 16, 2022, the city dropped the vaccine mandate for indoor dining due to a decline in covid-19 cases while keeping the indoor mask mandate in place. in addition, the city unveiled a tiered response to the covid-19 pandemic, with four tiers based on number of cases, test positivity, hospitalizations, and the rate of cases. in the lowest tier, "all clear", city mask mandates will be lifted (with the exception of schools, healthcare facilities, congregate settings, and public transportation) and there will be no vaccine mandate for indoor dining. in the next tier, "mask precautions", a mask mandate will be in place while there will still be no vaccine mandate for indoor dining. in the next tier, "caution", a mask mandate will be in place while either proof of vaccination or a negative test will be required for indoor dining. in the highest tier, "extreme caution", a mask mandate will be in place while proof of vaccination will be required for indoor dining. as of february 16, 2022, the city is in the "mask precautions" tier. on march 2, 2022, the city moved to the "all clear" tier, ending the indoor mask mandate. the federal mask mandates for healthcare facilities and public transportation, in addition to the school mask mandate, will remain in place, while masks will be required in city buildings until march 7, 2022, at which time the mandate will be lifted for visitors and fully vaccinated staff. on march 9, 2022, the city made masks optional in public and archdiocesan schools; masks would still be required in prek head start programs. a mask mandate was reinstated for one week after spring break to avoid a surge in cases following the break. on april 5, 2022, the city recommended people wear masks indoor again due to an uptick in cases caused by the ba.2 subvariant of the sars-cov-2 omicron variant. the city however remained in the "all clear" tier. on april 11, 2022, the city moved back into the "mask precautions" tier, with an indoor mask mandate to be implemented starting on april 18, 2022. after the federal mask mandate for public transportation was struck down on april 18, 2022; septa announced that masks will no longer be required onboard vehicles and inside stations and concourses. on april 22, 2022, the city lifted the indoor mask mandate due to declining cases and hospitalizations, with masks recommended in indoor public spaces; masks will still be required in healthcare and congregate settings. on may 23, 2022, the school district of philadelphia began requiring masks again for students and staff in buildings and on buses and vans due to an increase in cases. on august 12, 2022, the school district of philadelphia announced that masks for the upcoming school year will be based on covid-19 transmission levels. masks were required for the first 10 days of the school year due to summer gatherings. starting on september 12, 2022, masks will become optional but recommended. the school district of philadelphia will require masks for 10 days following winter break in order to reduce the transmission of covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses; the mandatory masking period will run from january 3, 2023, to january 13, 2023. demographics according to the philadelphia department of public health, african americans, hispanic americans and white americans presented with roughly equal rates of infection when adjusted for population size. data also show that african americans and white americans were both more likely than hispanic americans and asian americans to die from the virus, when adjusted for population size. although asian-americans were initially discriminated against for spreading the virus, data show that asian-americans present with the lowest infection rate of all racial groups in the city. according to the philadelphia department of public health, the risk of dying from covid-19 increases substantially with age. approximately half of all deaths have occurred in persons age 75 or older. department of public health data show that 361 children have been hospitalized with the virus, one of whom has died from the virus. nearly 2,000 hospitalizations and 40 deaths due to the virus have occurred in young adults aged 20–34. when adjusted for population size, males are more likely than females to die from covid-19. data the neighborhood that experienced the most cases overall was juniata, which reported 9,356 cases, or 11% of the neighborhood's population. the neighborhood with the worst testing rate is oxford circle in northeast philadelphia. the neighborhood with the highest overall positivity rate for the virus in the city of philadelphia is also oxford circle, which reports an overall, all time positivity rate of 9.3%. the neighborhoods of bustleton and somerton in northeast philadelphia were particularly hard-hit by the covid-19 pandemic. during the peak of the pandemic, multiple nursing homes in these neighborhoods reported over 80% positivity rates and death rates that exceeded 20%. st. john neumann center for rehabilitation & healthcare, in somerton, reported 40 deaths among residents and staff, the highest number of covid-19 deaths at any single location (outside of a hospital) in the city of philadelphia. in october 2020, cms stopped reporting the number of covid-19 deaths at st. john neumann center for rehabilitation & healthcare. according to datasets published by the city of philadelphia in 2021, bustleton was the neighborhood with the most covid-19 deaths in the city. approximately 0.6% of the total population of bustleton perished from the virus. as of november 2021, the city of philadelphia reported a total of 2,229 infections in its prisons during the pandemic. the city reports that most of these cases were asymptomatic. the city has not released data indicating how many prisoners have been hospitalized or have died due to covid-19. in december 2020, following a large spike of at least 150 new, concurrently active cases of the deadly virus in philadelphia prisons, the department of prisons instituted a "shelter in place" for the city's prisons, requiring inmates to attend court hearings remotely via telecommunication.