PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia officials, in an about-face, will drop the mask mandate implemented Monday.Mayor Jim Kenney’s office stated decreasing hospitalizations and a narrowing of coronavirus case numbers as reasons for the shift.The city will move to strongly recommend all people wear masks indoors, but will move away from a mask mandate.The mayor’s office did not specify when they intend to implement the change.
They stated more details would become available in briefing Friday.Philadelphia is the only large city in the United States to have re-implemented a mask mandate, after dropping it in March 2022.Health officials use four key metrics, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, test positivity rates and the rate of increase in cases, to determine the move from one response tier to the next.The tiers are listed as: Advertisement.