Savannah Hulsey Pointer, FISM News

[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]

Businesses in the Philadelphia area have filed a lawsuit in PA state court in an effort to overturn Philadelphia’s reinstated indoor mask mandate.

According to a report by The Associated Press, the city is renewing its efforts to mask residents indoors to fend off a surge of COVID-19 infections. The businesses filed suit with the Commonwealth Court Saturday with the claim that the city does not have the authority to impose such a mandate.

In their suit, the plaintiffs assert that city health officials have “usurped the power and authority” of elected state lawmakers as well as the state department of health and the state advisory health board with their mandate.

This suit follows the Supreme Court ruling in December that the state governor didn’t have the authority to require masks in Pennsylvania schools and child care centers.

Attorney Thomas W. King III was involved in last year’s successful challenge to the statewide mask mandate in schools and he claims that the city’s new order goes against recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The regulations imposed by Philadelphia are arbitrary and capricious,” King told CNN in an interview Sunday. “Philadelphia jettisoned the CDC regulations and is inventing its own. Philadelphia violated the Pennsylvania Constitution. Things that apply in Philadelphia must apply statewide, but that’s not what’s happening.”

Yet, the city’s health commissioner has doubled down on her assertion that masks are the best preventative measure for the growing positive cases.

“If we fail to act now, knowing that every previous wave of infections has been followed by a wave of hospitalizations, and then a wave of deaths, it will be too late for many of our residents,” said health commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole.

The state only ended its indoor mask mandate on March 2, however, the health commissioner cited what is reported as a 50% rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases in 10 days, which meets the city’s guidelines for wearing masks indoors.

Communications Director of Philadelphia’s Mayor’s Office, Kevin Lessard, said that officials were “unable to comment on this particular case” but cited the court’s denial of an emergency motion by another plaintiff for a preliminary injunction against the mandate saying that “the courts once again confirmed that city has both the legal authority and requisite flexibility to enact the precautionary measures necessary to control the spread of COVID-19.”

Restaurant owners are pushing back against the mandate claiming that industry workers will endure the most negative impact from the mandate.