A buyer wearing a protective mask picks fruit at the Philadelphia Reading Terminal Market as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.
Matt Rourke | AP
As the Covid-19 case continues to grow, Philadelphia is returning its indoor mask mandate for public place, school and day care.
Philadelphia announced Monday that masks must be worn indoors again, April 18, unless vaccine status is checked.
“Simply put, this means we’re reintroducing the Mask Mandate in Philadelphia,” Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigol told a news conference this afternoon.
Philadelphia has in recent days removed the mask mandate by ticking over its own self-imposed benchmark of daily case counting and hospitalization.
There have been an average of 142 new cases in Philadelphia in recent days, and 46 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19.
The Philadelphia School District had already planned the need for masks as students return from the April 18 spring break. This new order means that all schools and day care in the city must follow it.
The move means the city has no more than two months without indoor masking requirements. The city has given “all clean” and dropped its previous mask order on March 2nd.