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PA to Relax COVID Restrictions on Restaurants, Others

Published on

March 15, 2021

Gov. Tom Wolf announced on Monday that Pennsylvania plans to relax capacity limitations on restaurants and other businesses next month.

Effective April 4, restaurants, personal service facilities, gyms, and entertainment venues such as casinos, theaters and malls can increase their capacity to 75%. Restaurants will also be allowed to resume bar service, allow alcohol service without the purchase of food and sell alcoholic beverages after 11 p.m. Finally, occupancy limits for indoor events will be increased to 25% of capacity, with outdoor events being increased to 50% of capacity.

Businesses will still need to comply with other COVID-related restrictions, such as mask wearing, social distancing and stringent cleaning. Restaurants must self-certify that they are complying with these restrictions to increase capacity to 75%. Otherwise, they are limited to 50% capacity. Learn how to self-certify your restaurant here, and find the self-certification documents here.

With the capacity-limit restriction not easing for three weeks, businesses should continue to monitor announcements from the state on COVID restrictions in case anything changes between now and then. Monday’s announcement deals only with capacity limits, and does not mention anything about the state’s current recommendation of teleworking when possible.

If you have any questions about how this could affect your business, contact Dan Desmond or Martin Siegel.

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DISCLAIMER: The information in this alert should not be construed as legal advice to be relied upon nor to create an attorney/client relationship. Please note that the reader’s or an industry’s specific situation or circumstances will vary and, thus, for example, an approach that is advisable in one industry may not be appropriate in another industry. If you have questions about your situation or about how to apply information contained in this alert to your situation or industry, you should reach out to an attorney.

The views expressed in this alert are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or the firm’s clients. The response to the COVID-19 pandemic is particularly challenging, evolving and, in many cases, can be controversial. Any views expressed in this alert are not intended to advocate for or endorse a particular governmental response to the pandemic.


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