Philadelphia Drops Mask Mandate Days After Reimposing It
Philadelphia Drops Mask Mandate Days After Reimposing It
(Bloomberg) -- Philadelphia has scrapped its indoor mask mandate, less than two weeks after reimposing it, a spokeswoman for Mayor Jim Kenney said Thursday night.
“Due to decreasing hospitalizations and a leveling of case counts, the city will move to strongly recommending masks in indoor public spaces as opposed to a mask mandate,” the spokeswoman, Sarah Peterson, said in an email.
Given the latest data, she added, the city’s Board of Health “voted to rescind the mandate.”
The decision was made at a time when coronavirus restrictions around the country have been eased, if not eliminated altogether.
Earlier this week, a federal judge in Florida threw out a mask requirement for air and train travel. The Justice Department said Wednesday it would appeal the ruling, setting up a likely court battle that could extend past the midterm elections.
Philadelphia announced on April 11 that it would reimpose the mandate, citing a 50% increase in coronavirus cases. The city said that “by implementing the mask mandate sooner rather than later, the Health Department hopes to keep the number of cases from skyrocketing, like we saw in December and January from the omicron variant.”
The mandate had taken effect on Monday.
The reinstatement was the first among major U.S. cities and occurred a little more than a month after it had been officially lifted.
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