Pennsylvania will lift mask mandate on June 28 or when 70% of adults are vaccinated

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Pennsylvania's Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam. (The Office of Governor Tom Wolf)

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania health officials on Thursday said the state will fully repeal its mask mandate in a month as vaccinations continue to climb across the commonwealth.

Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam said Pennsylvania will revoke its mask mandate on Monday, June 28, or when 70% of the state's adult population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Pennsylvania previously set the open-ended 70% benchmark, but Beam said vaccination data among adults encouraged the department to set a hard date.

"Yesterday we hit a milestone with 70 percent of adults receiving at least one dose of vaccine," Beam said. "That’s a strong indicator that we are on track to get at least that many getting both doses by the end of June."

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Pennsylvania was among the first states to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated guidance on mask-wearing and social distancing for fully vaccinated people. Pennsylvanians who are two weeks removed from their final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine are no longer required to wear a mask in most indoor and outdoor settings.

"Pennsylvanians are realizing that they have the power to stop COVID-19 and they are stepping up to get vaccinated," Beam said.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia will continue to act independently from the state as it for the entirety of the pandemic. Philadelphia repealed its outdoor mask mandate for fully vaccinated people last Friday, but is still requiring masks indoors.

Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole said the city will review the COVID-19 metrics and could pull back indoor mask-wearing on Jun. 11 if the numbers continue to trend in the right direction. The city previously announced that on Jun. 11 it will fully reopen by repealing all ‘Safer at Home’ measures that have been in place for more than a year.