Philadelphia Ending Indoor Mask Mandate Only Days After Implementation
Will Philadelphia reinstate the indoor mask mandate every time it sees a rise in cases?
Philadelphia, PA, had quite a week:
- April 11: Philadelphia announced plans to reinstate the indoor mask mandate on April 18.
- April 17: Lawsuit filed against Philadelphia.
- April 18: Indoor mask mandate goes into effect.
- April 22: Indoor mask mandate ends.
So will Philadelphia panic and go mask crazy any time COVID cases rise a little bit? That is why the city reinstated the policy this week. From April 11:
Monday’s case count is more than 50% higher than it was 10 days ago, Bettigole said, noting the number of people hospitalized is still low. The city is now averaging 142 cases per day.
“By wearing masks consistently, we can continue to go about our daily lives and continue to take part in the life of our city without contributing to increasing transmission of Covid-19,” [Public Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl] Bettigole said.
The lawsuit against the city claimed the indoor mask mandate goes against the CDC recommendations and the city does not have the authority to issue the mandate.
The mayor and city officials defended the move all week.
What changed? Cases decreased:
“Due to decreasing hospitalizations and a leveling of case counts, the City will move to strongly recommending masks in indoor public spaces as opposed to a mask mandate,” a spokesperson with the Philadelphia Health Department told NBC10 Thursday night. “Given the latest data, the BOH voted to rescind the mandate.”
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The health department did not release data to back up its reversal on masking, saying more information would be provided Friday. But Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, told the Board of Health at a public meeting Thursday night that hospitalizations had unexpectedly gone down 25% in a matter of days.
“We’re in a situation that we really had not anticipated being in this soon but it is good news,” she said, according to a transcript of the meeting. “So I’m really very happy … to say it appears that we no longer need to mandate masks in Philadelphia and that we can actually move to simply a strong recommendation.”
Did masks make this happen? I doubt it since it only started on Monday. Maybe stop testing everyone? It’s been over two years.
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Comments
Studie ( I have 600) dating back to the Spanish flu all say masks are worthless.
Yes, and before 2020, this was an accepted POV for respiratory viruses. But you don’t need a study. Just look at the world around you – anywhere, anytime. As I type this, South Korea has universal mask compliance and has more cumulative cases per million than the US.
For two years, Ian Miller has been showing how useless masks are
https://twitter.com/ianmSC
The evidence is LIT-trally in front of your face, which I guess cannot be seen when you wear a mask.
The problem with the assertions made by Dr Bettigole that consistently wearing masks allows daily life to continue without risk of vivid transmission is that it assumes facts that not only haven’t been proven but that multiple studies have shown to be false. In addition it makes assumptions as to both the quality of the mask worn and that the mask is used correctly.
Any old mask is absolutely not equal to an N95 or higher quality mask. An N95 is sort of entry level PPE and every piece of PPE requires a dedication and self discipline in use that frankly most people don’t possess. No piece of protective equipment retains efficacy if used improperly. N95 masks are tight fitting and need replacement after several hours of wear; most people will not do either. Nor can we rely upon everyone to store and handle their N95 properly between short periods of use.
These factors combine to render any mask mandate, outside a clinical setting where personnel are trained and monitored to use them correctly, virtually worthless. Given that under what basis does any public health officer issue a further mask mandates and expect to be taken seriously? The cat has been out of the bag for too long and the broad public will not support mask mandates so why issue these directives? Fear of losing control.
Two days? The poll numbers must have been on fire, in negative numbers.
Corporate events scheduled for Philly were calling to cancel – the Philly Convention Center would be empty the rest of the year if Masks stayed on. Follow the $$$.
My bet is that they didn’t see any more people wearing mask after the mandate than before. Here in LA, only the bums use public transportation and most people don’t go to the airport often enough to matter.
Just refuse to comply. We have finally gone deaf to their insanity. What are they going to do? Shoot us?
I vowed to not shop and to not eat in Philadelphia restaurants during this new mandate. I shopped and ate in New Jersey this week.
Something taught in the military is never, EVER, give an order that you know in advance won’t be obeyed.
Doing so displays how weak you are, and means that you will completely lose the respect of everybody under you.
The idiots actually thought that people would just meekly go back to slapping face diapers on BECAUSE TEH SCIENCEZ.
Stupid fucks realized that nobody was listening, so they frantically backpedaled so it wasn’t obvious just how little authority they actually have at this point.
off topic but suprised that LIF is not covering MTG hearing
https://rumble.com/vi1or5-rsbn-live.html
Hmm, compliance issues I’m betting. People didn’t want to back to being smothered for no good reason and I damn well don’t blame them.
The Liberty Bell isn’t the only thing that’s cracked in Philadelphia.
People are cracking up—laughing at the stupid mandate.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iGqrXHMfXpw
That was great! I love Elton John.
The CNN+ of mask mandates.
Ha!