Pennsylvania’s mask mandate will be lifted no later than June 28, Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said Thursday.

Gov. Tom Wolf earlier this month set a benchmark for the state: 70% of adults fully vaccinated. Beam said if the state reaches that threshold before June 28, the mask mandate will be lifted then.

“We are on track to get to 70% of adults with second doses by the end of June,” Beam said. “After reviewing the vaccination data for people 18 and over and discussing it with the Covid-19 Vaccine Task Force, we have determined that the commonwealth’s mask order can safely be lifted on June 28 or when 70% of adults get their second dose — whichever comes first.”

Wolf announced Wednesday that 70% of the state’s adults had received at least one shot. Just over 52% of adults are fully vaccinated, meaning two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson.

“That puts the future in the hands of all Pennsylvanians,” Beam said.

She said the state will still adhere to federal guidance on masking in certain situations: on planes, buses, trains and other public transportation and in transportation hubs such as airports. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends masks in long-term care facilities, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters.

All mitigation measures except for the mask mandate are set to expire Monday. Beam said the Department of Health and the task force discussed lifting those sooner but decided against it.

“We wanted to make sure we could get predictability and certainty when we put the May 31 date out there,” she said.

She noted setting a date for the mask mandate to lift regardless of vaccination rates doesn’t necessarily mean the pandemic is over.

“We’re at a point of transition,” Beam said. “There’s a point where the state wants to make sure that folks also take self-responsibility for how they’re going to safely conduct their lives and their family’s lives in the communities moving forward.”

It’s meant to bring some normalcy back but “do it safely and do it acutely aware of the risks that are still posed by covid-19,” she said.

The news “underscores the power of the vaccines,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based infectious disease and critical care expert.

Adalja said he would still advise those who are unvaccinated to go forward with caution “as the virus will still pose some risk to them and still be circulating.”

Indeed, Pennsylvania reported 941 new cases of covid-19 on Thursday as well as 40 newly reported deaths.

“Unfortunately at this stage, many of our deaths feel preventable,” Beam said, “because they are the unvaccinated individuals at this point that are not only catching covid but succumbing to covid.”

She said she remains hopeful those who haven’t yet been vaccinated will decide to do so, and she noted the state has “probably already exceeded some of the more realistic expectations.”

“I don’t think that it’s necessarily that folks aren’t going to be able to be reached. I think what we’ve found is that it’s just requiring a lot more intention to get them vaccinated.”

Efforts to combat hesitancy and increase accessibility will remain in place, she said.

“The fact that we still have tens of thousands of folks getting vaccinated every day in this state is a tribute to all of the Pennsylvanians who are still interested in getting vaccinated,” she said.

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