PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia will rescind the city’s indoor mask mandate just days after the order goes back into effect, city health officials told CBS3. The Board of Health voted to rescind the mandate.
More details will be announced Friday during a 10:30 am briefing that will air live on CBS News Philly.
RESPONDED: After just four days, with confusion and scathing criticism for being the only US city to require face coverings, Philadelphia is once again removing its mask mandate. (1/2) @CBSPhilly
—Joe Holden (@JoeHoldenCBS3) April 22, 2022
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Health officials say the decision to rescind the order is due to declining hospitalizations and leveling off of case counts. However, the use of masks in closed public places is still strongly recommended, the city says.
The order went into effect Monday and was met with backlash among some business owners.
Last weekend, lawyers representing a handful of companies filed a lawsuit against the city, a move to dismiss the mandate on the grounds that it has no scientific basis.
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“Philadelphia actually removed the CDC guidelines as the standard and they have made up their own guidelines,” attorney Thomas W. King III told Eyewitness News on Saturday. “They are making these things up. I want the Commonwealth court to vacate this injunction as a violation of Pennsylvania law.”
The mandate conflicted with recommendations from the CDC and health policy experts at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They say hospital capacities are in good shape.
This now appears to be an acknowledgment of a significant misstep by Kenney administration policymakers who rejected CDC guidance and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia recommendations against mandatory mask wearing.
But the city is not saying that. (3/ ) @CBSPhilly—Joe Holden (@JoeHoldenCBS3) April 22, 2022
The new mandate also came as a Florida judge struck down federal mask orders, allowing public transit riders to go without masks.
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Philadelphia was the first major city in the country to re-impose a mask mandate.