Is PA Easing Up on Mask Mandates?

Article by Cody Ulianna, Journalism Student

Pennsylvania's newest step towards the mask mandates is interesting. While Omicron caused cases and deaths to skyrocket in the past month or two with a peak of about 30,000, this month, Covid-19 cases fell to about 1,300. In the Lehigh Valley, we have dropped to below 60 cases a day.
Mask mandates and wearing masks in general have been a very controversial and sore subject with protests and riots happening pretty much everywhere in the world. More recently, for over three weeks the Ottawa protest happened due to mask and vaccine mandates.
Recently, Allentown has announced that it is dropping its mask mandate on all city property. Even though mask mandates are being dropped in some locations, it's still important to be safe in crowded areas such as stores, jails, or schools. 
Even with Covid-19 cases dropping, Pennsylvania will still be pushing for people to be fully vaccinated and get their booster shots. At least 67 percent of people in Pennsylvania have been fully vaccinated. However, boosters still lack, with only 41 percent receiving doses. Pennsylvania does look like it's getting closer to dropping mask mandates everywhere and easing up a little bit. With everything said, Pennsylvania's health department will still be monitoring Covid-19 heavily in highly affected areas to make sure another outbreak doesn't happen and cause the entire state to go into a lockdown again.

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