The bar for reimposing mask mandates is getting higher and higher
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New York City raised its coronavirus alert level last week in response to rising cases, triggering a recommendation — but not a requirement — that people wear masks in public indoor settings. In Philadelphia, officials reimposed a mask mandate last month after cases rose, only to scrap the rule four days after it took effect.
The decisions by the Democratic-run cities illustrate how mask mandates are falling out of favor with American public health authorities in the third year of the pandemic and the bar to bring them back is getting higher, even in places where the requirements were long embraced as a proven way to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
“They are responding to the public,” said Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “People are really fed up with all of these restrictions.”
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