HARRISBURG – One month from now…or sooner…masking will no longer be required in Pennsylvania for anyone, vaccinated or not.
Acting State Secretary of Health Alison Beam announced Thursday, thanks to the state’s continued vaccine progress; the mask order will end at the end of next month, “After reviewing the vaccination data for people 18 and older, we’ve determined the commonwealth’s mask order can be safely lifted June 28, or when 70% of adults get their second dose, whichever comes first.”
She says, to date, 52.7 percent of the 18 and older populations are fully vaccinated in Pennsylvania and 70% of all state residents have received at least one dose. She said when the statewide masking order is lifted, Pennsylvania will continue to follow the CDC guidance for wearing a mask where required by laws. That will include at some businesses, workplaces, public transportation, long-term care facilities, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters.
Beam says the state is sticking with schedule of lifting all other mitigation orders this Monday instead of lifting them before the holiday weekend, “I think task force members wanted to bring to the table concerns that they had been hearing from their colleagues, constituents and the like, and we did have a robust discussion, but we wanted to make sure to also, as we’ve done throughout the month, incrementally lifting these mitigation efforts to be able to provide as much consistency for folks…really wait and have the favor of keeping that May 31st date.”
Beam says the state continues to closely monitor cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19.
