Philadelphia Businesses Sue to Halt City’s Renewed Mask Mandate

Several Philadelphia businesses have sued to overturn the city’s reimposed indoor mask mandate, which took effect Monday.

The lawsuit was filed in commonwealth court and names the following officials as defendants: Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney (D), Philadelphia Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole, and acting Pennsylvania Health Department Secretary Keara Klinepeter.

Philadelphia was the first major American city to bring back the mandate, citing a rise in coronavirus cases. In a recent press conference, Bettigole pointed to a 50-percent rise in confirmed cases in 10 days as the reason for the reinstated restriction.

“If we fail to act now, knowing that every previous wave of infections has been followed by a wave of hospitalizations, and then a wave of deaths, it will be too late for many of our residents,” she stated.

Attorney Thomas W. King III, who was among those involved in last year’s successful challenge to the statewide mask mandate in schools, said the city’s emergency order went against recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and “imposed a renegade standard unfound anywhere else in the world.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.