PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The city is easing rules about outdoor mask wearing as of May 21 for those who are fully vaccinated. And city health officials will consider lifting the mask requirement indoors on Friday, June 11, assuming infection rates and hospitalizations continue to trend downward.
Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole announced the move on Wednesday in the city's coronavirus press briefing, her first since the resignation of her predecessor Dr. Tom Farley.
With new COVID-19 cases down to 200 a day, a steep drop from last month, vaccinated people can ditch masks outdoors starting Friday, "including outdoor gatherings, outdoor restaurants and outdoor sports events and performances," Bettigole said.
"You can go to a ball game without a mask."
After that time, if favorable COVID-19 trends continue and more Philadelphians get vaccinated, the mask mandate will also end indoors. However, Bettigole recommends unvaccinated people still wear a mask whenever they are around other people.
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There is a big push to get more people vaccinated in the city. Right now, about half of eligible adults in Philadelphia, about 634,000, are fully vaccinated.
She says, for those who’ve been waiting to get vaccinated, six months and hundreds of millions of shots provide solid evidence that the vaccine is safe and effective.
"Fully vaccinated people can go back to normal — no masks, no restrictions," she said. "If that’s not a reason to get vaccinated today, I don’t know what is."
One big group who has been left out is people with disabilities who are homebound. The city has started a program to use the Philadelphia Fire Department and 20 health care provides to make home visits to tend to those people.