Philadelphia officials said Friday that face coverings to control the coronavirus are no longer required within indoor public spaces, four days after the city bucked national trends by reimposing its mask mandate.
The Board of Health voted late Thursday to rescind the mandate after the city Department of Health pointed to a 25% decrease in hospitalizations in recent days and a leveling off in cases.
Officials in Pennsylvania’s largest city also said they will rely on strong warnings about future surges, instead of using the tiered system that triggered the mandate.
Philadelphia reimposed the mandate on Monday because an increase in cases, fueled by a BA.2 variant, put the city within a higher alert level under its own system. Previously, the mask mandate ended on March 2.
The city’s earlier decision to revive the mask mandate surprised many people because much of the U.S. is pivoting to an era in which people gauge their personal risk from COVID-19 and steps to mitigate it.
Earlier this week, a federal judge struck down a federal mask mandate on public transportation, making the Philly mandate even more of an outlier.
Compliance with the rule was shoddy at a Philadelphia 76ers playoff game this week, and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman opposed the rule during a debate among the top Democratic contenders for the party’s nomination to run for U.S. Senate.
“We have to move past COVID,” Mr. Fetterman said. “We have to live with this virus, and I don’t believe going backwards with a mask mandate or with closures is appropriate.”
Dr. Cheryl Bettigole told reporters on Friday she was guided by the trajectory of the pandemic and not the fact that Philadelphia stood alone in imposing mask rules.
“We don’t feel like the mandate is necessary at this point,” Ms. Bettigole said. “What I’m trying to do is really follow the data and I think that’s what we’ve done here.”
The city will no longer use the response-level system that prompted the renewed mandate. Instead, it concluded that strong recommendations on masks can be enough to stymie new waves.
Dr. Bettigole said virus trends likely improved as people took precautions in the lead-up to the mandate being reimposed. The past four days under the mandate wouldn’t have made an immediate difference in hospitalizations.
Dr. Bettigole said the city continues to recommend mask-wearing, even if it isn’t mandated, to keep trends moving in the right direction. She said officials will discuss what measures are needed if a major virus surge does occur.
“For now, what we’re doing is keeping people informed,” she said. “We will warn people if cases are going up.”
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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