While selected outdoor activities and businesses are now slowly opening this month as what Gov. Tom Wolf has stated, it’s still not for sure if nail salons, hair salons, gyms, and theaters will be included in these allowed establishments.
These changes will take effect on Friday, which means stay-at-home orders will be lifted, and retail shops can reopen. However, they are still encouraged to follow the strict health and safety guidelines implemented by the state government.
Twenty-four counties located in the north-central and northwestern parts of Pennsylvania are given the go-ahead signal to ease the stay-at-home restrictions and move from the red phase to the yellow phase of Gov. Wolf’s plan. The following counties are Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango, and Warren.
“By definition those professionals, in addition to licensed massage therapists, provide services that do not allow for social distancing of being six feet away,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said during the press conference on Saturday, “This is a virus that’s transmitted through respiratory droplets and through the air and then on surfaces where those respiratory droplets might lie,”. Levine then continued the statement with, “Even if people are wearing a mask…it’s not 100%. And if you’re with someone in close contact for a period of time, probably more than 10 minutes or more, than this virus can be transmitted.”
As of May 3, 12:00 am, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has confirmed 962 additional COVID-19 cases, which made total cases in the state to 29,267, with a record of 2,444 deaths. All counties of Pennsylvania have confirmed cases of COVID-19. In these total cases, 3,031 of them are health care workers.
