The US city of Philadelphia has reversed course on a city-wide mask mandate, with officials citing a drop in Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations despite reimposing the same rule less than a week ago.
The city’s Board of Health announced the move on Friday, pointing to a “recent leveling-off of case counts and a decrease in Covid-19 hospitalizations,” though it noted that residents and visitors are still “strongly encouraged, but not required, to wear a mask in indoor public spaces.”
“We have said throughout the pandemic that we will respond based on the data available. In implementing our mask mandate, we had promised to continue to monitor hospitalizations and to review the need for the mandate if hospitalizations did not rise following the rise in cases,” Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said.