SEPTA Drops Mask Mandate

PHILADELPHIA — Counter to the city of Philadelphia reinstating its indoor mask mandate, SEPTA has dropped its mask mandate.

SEPTA Monday said masks are no longer required on SEPTA vehicles and in stations and concourses following a federal ruling that eliminated the national transportation mask mandate.

Neither SEPTA riders nor SEPTA employees are required to wearing masks.

While masks are not required, they are recommended based on CDC and TSA guidance.

SEPTA's announcement comes on the heels of Philadelphia bringing its mask mandate back Monday.

The city last week announced it is reimposing indoor masking based on increasing cases of the coronavirus, moving the city into the "mask precautions" tier of its coronavirus response system.

In accordance with this, all SEPTA employees working inside SEPTA offices, districts and shops within Philadelphia must continue to wear masks.

This "mask precautions" tier — which is the second-least restrictive of the tiers — is declared when three of the following are true:

• Average new cases per day is less than 225 (this is approximately the cut-off between CDC's "high" and "substantial" levels of transmission).
• Hospitalizations are under 100.
• Percent positivity is under 5 percent.
• Cases have not risen by more than 50 percent in the previous 10 days.

The other tiers are "all clear," caution," and "extreme caution."

"All clear" means no restrictions whatsoever; "caution" requires proof of vaccination or negative tests for indoor dining and masking in indoor settings; and "extreme caution" means only proof of full vaccination is accepted to eat and drink indoors and masking will be required indoors, as well.

The city's decision to bring the mask mandate back led a group of residents and businesses to file a lawsuit against the city, saying the return of the mandate goes against CDC guidelines.

The CDC's guidelines now focus more on hospitalizations rather than case counts when recommending masking and adding more protections against the coronavirus.

In Philadelphia, health officials review the metrics on case counts, rate of rise of cases, and hospitalizations in the city to determine the appropriate COVID-19 Response Level every Monday.

Cases in Philadelphia, in the region, and in other large cities have continued to rise rapidly, according to health officials. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are now similarly rising, officials said.