Photo: John Moore / Getty Images
Philadelphia will end the mandate for the use of masks against covid-11 less than a week to restore it, city health officials reported Thursday night, following the sharp rise in infections.
The Board of Health voted to rescind the mandate, according to the Department Philadelphia Public Health, following “declining hospitalizations and leveling off of case counts,” they said in a statement.
The order went into effect Monday, after his previous indoor mask mandate ended on March 2.
The health department did not reveal the data that supported its version of the use of masks, and assured that it would offer more information this Friday. However, Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettiogole told the Board at a public meeting that hospitalizations had unexpectedly dropped by 25% in a few days.
“We are in a situation that we really had not anticipated being in soon, but it’s good news,” she said, according to a transcript of the meeting. “So I’m really, really happy… to say that it looks like we don’t need to mandate mask wearing in Philly anymore and we can actually just move to a strong recommendation.”
The city of Philadelphia, one of the main cities in the United States, had become one of the important metropolises to restore the order of the use of masks indoors, but faced a major setback, as well as a legal effort to overturn the mandate.
This could be seen in the home playoff game of the Philadelphia 76ers this Monday, with the little use of masks, despite the fact that they were required by the city’s rules.
Likewise, City officials reported that the mandate would be lifted this Friday 22 April in the morning.
When they announced the 11 of April that the order of the use of face masks would be reinstated, Bettigole said that it was necessary to prevent a new possible wave of covid-19 from a subvariant of omicron. In addition, he stated that the city had crossed the threshold of increasing cases where the city’s guidelines require masks to be worn indoors.
“If we don’t act now, knowing that every previous wave of infections has been followed by a wave of hospitalizations and then a wave of deaths, it will be too late for many of our residents,” Bettigole said at the time.
New cases and hospitalizations continued to increase at least until this Monday, when the health department reported to the fewer 82 patients infected with coronavirus, almost one 80% more than the previous week, with confirmed cases a 58% in the same period of time at 82 per day.
Bettigole informed the Board of Health yesterday that hospitalizations dropped sharply to 65 ever since.
So because of the order, the restaurant industry opposed the mask mandate, saying workers would bear the brunt of customer anger over the new rules.
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