An Italian joint with a ‘No Mask, No Entry’ sign on the door|Paul Sableman|CC BY 2.0
Philadelphia becomes the first prime city in the US to bring back an indoor mask mandate.
Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole on Monday said that the mask mandate would come into effect from April 18, following the rapid growth of COVID-19 cases—by more than 50% in the last ten days.
Bettigole also said that any business that requires proof of vaccination would be exempt from the mandate.
Philadelphia confirmed 142 new cases yesterday, and the number is driven by the highly contagious BA.2 subvariant of Omicron.
