The ruling comes a week after Commonwealth Court threw out the statewide mask mandate for school and child care facilities.
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania judge on Tuesday said an order that requires masks inside K-12 schools and child care facilities to contain the coronavirus must expire Dec. 4, although that is unlikely to be the final legal development in the case.
The ruling by Commonwealth Court Judge Christine Fizzano Cannon comes a week after her court threw out the statewide mask mandate, and it lifts the automatic suspension of that decision granted when Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Cannon’s ruling, in theory, gives time for the state Supreme Court to take up the case, or for Wolf’s administration to write and enact a mask mandate through an emergency regulation.
In a 4-1 ruling last week, Commonwealth Court sided with a legal challenge to the masking order that took effect in early September amid rising coronavirus cases and concerns about the surge of the delta variant.
The judges agreed with the challengers that state law did not explicitly allow Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam to order a mask mandate to contain a disease, and the state never created a regulation under the state’s disease control law to allow it.
Two days earlier, Wolf announced he would return authority over masking decisions to local school districts on Jan. 17, but intended to continue masking in child care centers and early learning programs.
Politics
Breaking down IVF: What it is and why it’s important in the fight for reproductive rights
In vitro fertilization, or IVF, has been at the forefront of a major reproductive rights battle, but what exactly is it? For many Americans, in...
Fetterman introduces bill to protect affordable internet access for 23 million households
The Affordable Connectivity Program expired on Tuesday due to Republican opposition, putting affordable high-speed internet access at risk for 23...
Democrats advance election bill in Pennsylvania long sought by counties to process ballots faster
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill long sought by counties seeking help to manage huge...
Local News
Look out, Sheetz, Wawa is officially moving into your territory with Central Pa. expansion
The Delaware County-based convenience store chain broke ground on its first Dauphin County location Wednesday in Middletown, with five more stores...
What do you know about Wawa? 7 fun facts about Pennsylvania’s beloved convenience store
Wawa has 60 years of Pennsylvania roots, and today the commonwealth’s largest private company has more than 1,000 locations along the east coast....