BREAKING: Philadelphia will rescind the city's indoor mask mandate just days after the order went back into effect, city health officials tell CBS3.
Health officials say the decision to rescind the order is due to decreasing hospitalizations and a leveling of case counts. However, masks are still strongly recommended in indoor public places, the city says.Last weekend, attorneys representing a handful of businesses filed suit against the city, a move to toss out the mandate arguing it has no scientific basis.
“Philadelphia actually did away with the CDC guidelines as the standard and they’ve invented their own guidelines,” Attorney Thomas W. King III told Eyewitness News on Saturday. “They’re making this stuff up. I want to see the state commonwealth court strike down this mandate as a violation of Pennsylvania law.”from the CDC and health policy experts at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They say hospital capacities are in good shape.
The new mandate also came as federal masking orders were struck down by a Florida judge, allowing public transportation travelers to go mask-free.