PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) – Philadelphia has lifted its mandate for indoor masks, city health officials said on Friday, reversing just days after people in the city had to start wearing masks again amid a sharp rise in infections.
In a statement, the Ministry of Public Health said residents and visitors were strongly encouraged, but were not required to wear a mask in closed public places.
The health council voted Thursday to revoke the mandate, according to the health department, which issued a statement citing “reducing hospitalizations and leveling the playing field.”
The term took effect on Monday. Philadelphia ended its previous term as an indoor mask on March 2nd.
Masks will continue to be required in health facilities and in congregations, such as nursing homes and shelters.
“We said during the pandemic that we would react based on the available data. In implementing our mask mandate, we have promised to continue to monitor hospitalizations and reconsider the need for a mandate if hospitalizations do not increase after the increase in cases, Dr. Cheryl Betigol, Philadelphia’s health commissioner, said in a statement Friday morning.
She added: “We are grateful to see that the Philadelphians have stepped up again, responding to this pandemic with solidarity and care for each other. Both this response and the data demonstrating its effectiveness allow us to announce today that we are going back to the Philadelphia Mask Mandate in favor of a strong recommendation for indoor masking. “
Betigol told the health council in a public meeting Thursday night that hospitalizations had unexpectedly fallen by 25 percent in a few days.
“We are in a situation where we really did not expect to be in this soon, but this is good news,” she said, according to a transcript of the meeting. “So I’m really happy … to say that it doesn’t seem necessary to impose masks in Philadelphia anymore, and that we can actually move on to just a strong recommendation.”
The city said that after a sharp rise between the end of March, when the cases remain 50-60 per day, and mid-April, reaching a peak of 377 cases on April 14, the cases have leveled off and averaged 242 per day, as of 21 April
Hospitalizations in Philadelphia peaked on April 17 at 82 and fell during the week, reaching 65 on April 21, according to the city.
“It should be noted that this equalization of cases and the reduction in hospitalizations has occurred as their numbers continue to increase in surrounding states and counties, proof of the seriousness with which Philadelphia approaches this wave of infections,” the health department said. .
Based on data showing that hospitalizations have not continued to rise, officials said the city of Philadelphia will no longer use the COVID-19 response levels introduced earlier this year.
“Response levels worked as intended and helped act as an early warning system to offset this ongoing increase in cases,” Betigol said. “People responded with caution even before the mandate, so we believe that a strong recommendation is enough, not a mandate at this stage of the pandemic.
Philadelphia became the first major city in the United States to regain its mandate for an indoor mask, but faced a brutal blow as well as a legal effort to drop the mandate.
The restaurant industry has rejected the city’s masked mandate again, saying workers will bear the brunt of customers’ anger over the new rules.
Several companies and residents have filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania State Court to overturn the renewed term. The Health Council’s vote to revoke the mandate came after board members met in private to discuss the lawsuit.
“We were very pleased to see that Philadelphia was making the right decision to revoke the mask mandate,” said plaintiff’s attorney Thomas W. King III, who was one of the participants in last year’s successful state-wide mask mandate challenge in schools.
Shortly before the news of the expiration of the term, the issue arose during a debate Thursday night between the three leading Democratic candidates seeking the party’s nomination for an open seat in the Pennsylvania Senate. It should be noted that two of them, Lieutenant Governor John Feterman and US Representative Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia, came out against the mandate.
“We have to go beyond COVID,” Feterman said, adding that “we have to live with this virus and I don’t believe we have to go back with a mask mandate or a closure.”
U.S. spokesman Connor Lamb of the Pittsburgh suburb said he hated wearing masks, but said Philadelphia officials were “trying to do what’s best for everyone.”
Most states and cities reduced their disguise requirements in February and early March following new guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which pay less attention to the number of cases and more to hospital capacity, and say most Americans can safely take off their masks.
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry said it was appealing a judge’s order revoking the federal mandate to mask planes and trains and tourist centers. The CDC has asked the Department of Justice to appeal a decision made by a federal judge in Florida earlier this week.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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