Lawsuit Filed Over Reinstated Philly Mask Mandate

Philadelphia PA

18 April, 2022

9:53 AM

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PHILADELPHIA — With the indoor masking mandate back in place in Philadelphia amid rising coronavirus case counts, a group of local residents and business owners have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the mandate. According to Action News, the suit was filed in the Commonwealth Court and seeks to throw out the mandate based on CDC guidelines. The CDC's guidelines now focus more on hospitalizations rather than case counts when recommending masking and adding more protections against the coronavirus. NBC10 reports the group's attorney, Thomas W. King III, said the city's move to reinstate the mandate" imposed a renegade standard unfound anywhere else in the world." King is representing gyms, chiropractors, restaurants and residents, according to Fox 29. The city last week announced it is reimposing indoor masking based on increasing cases of the coronavirus, moving the city into the "mask precautions" tier of its coronavirus response system. "I suspect that this wave will be smaller than the one we saw in January," Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole said in the annoucement. "But if we wait to put our masks back on, we'll have lost our chance to stop the wave." This "mask precautions" tier — which is the second-least restrictive of the tiers — is declared when three of the following are true: Average new cases per day is less than 225 (this is approximately the cut-off between CDC's "high" and "substantial" levels of transmission).Hospitalizations are under 100.Percent positivity is under 5 percent.Cases have not risen by more than 50 percent in the previous 10 days. Upon the announcement last week, Ben Fileccia, Senior Director of Operations of Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, issued a statement on the mandate's return, saying restaurants and their workers will likely face backlash in enforcing the mandate as they have in the past. "We are extremely disappointed to hear that the city plans to mandate that masks be required when dining indoors without any input from the mitigated community," he said. "Restaurant workers have suffered severe backlash when enforcing these rules in the past and, unfortunately, this time will be no different." Fileccia called the city's decision a major blow to the industry, which he said has worked hard to keep workers and guests safe throughout the pandemic. The other tiers are "all clear," caution," and "extreme caution." "All clear" means no restrictions whatsoever; "caution" requires proof of vaccination or negative tests for indoor dining and masking in indoor settings; and "extreme caution" means only proof of full vaccination is accepted to eat and drink indoors and masking will be required indoors, as well.