The officials of city health declared on Thursday that the rule of mandatory wearing masks indoors is finally removed from the city of Philadelphia. This was a shocking decision as just a few days back people were asked to wear masks all the time as the coronavirus cases were again rising. As per the Department of Health, this decision was based on a voting procedure conducted by the Board of Health.
Philadelphia Is Removing The Mask Mandate As Covid Cases Decreases
There was also a statement that was released thereafter which meant that as the cases of Covid-19 infection were reducing, the mask mandate was removed. This mandate was stopped once on 2nd March and then again this Monday. Though no data was provided by the Department to support their decision, they stated that related information will be given on Friday.
Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, the acting commissioner of Health, gave rough data that there has been a decrease in cases by 25%. In the meeting, she stated that nobody anticipated that the situation will get this better, and hence she is very happy that people do not have to wear a mask all the time in Philadelphia.
The city of Philadelphia was the first place to start the compulsory wearing of masks in the indoors rule and it was highly criticized for it. The match of Philadelphia 76ers that happened in the home city on Monday saw very few people wearing masks though the mandate was still prevalent.
Till Monday, the number of cases admitted to the hospital was 82, however, as per Bettigole, the cases went down to 65. The industry of restaurant is opposing this new rule as for them, workers have to tolerate the anger of the customers more often. In the views of Fetterman, people must get over this pandemic and as the Covid-19 virus is unstoppable, removing the mandate is not a good option.
