{"id":34561,"date":"2021-05-27T11:36:19","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T15:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=34561"},"modified":"2021-05-27T11:36:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T15:36:23","slug":"doh-pa-mask-mandate-likely-to-end-june-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=34561","title":{"rendered":"DOH: Pa. mask mandate likely to end June 28"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em> @mikemcgannpa<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Vector color chalk drawn illustration of medical mask on black chalkboard background.<\/p><\/div>\n

One more month.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s mask mandates will end no later than June 28, the state Department of Health (DOH) announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

Already, folks who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear masks in many situations \u2014 stores, businesses and such are still allowed to mandate masks \u2014 but many have moved away from the requirement. Previously, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the mask mandate would end when 70% of the state\u2019s adult population was fully vaccinated \u2014 already 70% of the population has had at least one shot, making it very likely that benchmark will be met at the end of June.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter reviewing the vaccination data for people\u00a018 and\u00a0over\u00a0and discussing\u00a0it with the\u00a0COVID-19 Vaccine\u00a0Legislative\u00a0Task Force, we\u00a0have determined that\u00a0the commonwealth\u2019s mask order can be lifted on\u00a0June 28\u00a0or\u00a0when 70 percent of adults get their second dose, whichever comes first,\u201d\u00a0DOH Acting Secretary Alison Beam said in a statement. \u201cPennsylvanians are realizing that they have the power to stop\u00a0COVID-19\u00a0and they are stepping up to get vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The end of the mask mandate won\u2019t \u2014 yet \u2014 mean the total end of masks.<\/p>\n

Even when the masking order is lifted, Pennsylvania will have to continue to follow the Centers for Disease Control guidance for wearing a mask where required by law, rule, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.<\/p>\n

The CDC requires\u00a0individuals to wear a mask on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States, and in U.S. transportation hubs, such as airports and stations. In addition, all individuals should still follow guidance at workplaces, local businesses, long-term care facilities, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters.<\/p>\n

However, as the national rate of vaccination increases \u2014 and COVID infections continue to drop nationally \u2014 the CDC is expected to continue to make changes in the mask guidance as conditions improve.<\/p>\n

Still, Beam and other officials are pushing to keep up the pace of vaccinations. To date, 52.7\u00a0percent\u00a0of the 18 and older population are fully vaccinated.\u00a0According to the CDC, 97.7 percent of Pennsylvanians over 65 have received at least one dose of vaccine.\u00a0Pennsylvania is among the top 10 in states in getting the vaccine out to the population.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Health will continue to make\u00a0getting a vaccine as convenient as possible\u00a0by making it widely available and\u00a0supporting\u00a0equitable and effective\u00a0efforts\u00a0to\u00a0reach every Pennsylvanian who wants it.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Pennsylvanians age 12 and older are eligible to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine.\u00a0People can find vaccination locations near them using\u00a0Vaccines.gov<\/span><\/a>, also known as Vaccine Finder.<\/p>\n

Individuals also can text their zip code to\u00a0GETVAX\u00a0(438829) for English, or\u00a0VACUNA\u00a0(822862) for Spanish and receive three possible vaccination sites in their area.<\/p>\n

\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa One more month. Pennsylvania\u2019s mask mandates will end no later than June 28, the state Department of Health (DOH) announced Thursday. Already, folks who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear masks in many situations \u2014 stores, businesses and such are still allowed to mandate masks \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[125,12971,12256,6269,12406],"class_list":["post-34561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-centers-for-disease-control","tag-covid","tag-department-of-health","tag-featured","tag-masks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34562,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34561\/revisions\/34562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}