To the applause of many, and perhaps to others’ consternation, Pennsylvania lifted its COVID-19 mask mandate on Monday.

The state Department of Health will no longer require unvaccinated people to wear masks in public, even though it said businesses, health care facilities, prisons and other places may still require them.

On Friday, state Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said even though the order was to be lifted, “businesses, organizations, health care providers and other entities maintain the option of requiring employees, guests or customers to wear a mask, regardless of their vaccination status.”

Is the lifting of mask requirements a good thing for people’s health and welfare? Only if they are dropping masks after being vaccinated. Some people are still worried that we need to know more about the long-term health effects of a vaccine before we become so confident. Some are just flat out anti-vaccination.

We trust the science. The hurdles the major manufacturers had to overcome, the steady supervision of the process they had to document, the highly regulated tests they had to endure, has resulted in what appears to be a successful vaccine.

As more Pennsylvanians have gotten vaccinated, new infections have plummeted. The state has averaged about 177 new confirmed cases per day over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering. Deaths attributed to COVID-19 have also dropped off, averaging about 12 per day over the past seven days.

According to federal data, 75% of Pennsylvania residents aged 18 and over have already received at least one vaccine dose, with nearly 60% of the adult population fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Live concerts have returned. The Big Butler Fair is back. Festivals and get-togethers are scheduled. One woman from the eastern part of the state, who attended a recent Bruce Springsteen concert, told the Associated Press that she was so happy to be back listening to live music — something she had taken for granted, to her despair — that she was going to cry.

We say to her, those aren’t tears of pandemic pain, but of joy.

— AA