No restaurants added to closure list

After several weeks of decline in the number of restaurants across Pennsylvania ordered to close for violating COVID-19 restrictions, the state reported that none was ordered to shutter last week.

The state Department of Agriculture issues a list each week of restaurants ordered to close the previous week.

According to the department, a closure order is issued when an inspection finds that a restaurant was violating rules such as capacity limits, mask requirements and only serving alcohol as part of a meal. A restaurant is ordered to close if it refused to correct viola

tions while an inspector is present.

Restaurants are permitted to reopen after agreeing to comply.

A total of 497 inspections were performed statewide last week, with 32 based on COVID-19 complaints from the public. None of the ensuing inspections resulted in a restaurant being ordered to shut down for COVID-19 violations.

There were three COVID-19 complaint-driven inspections of restaurants in Berks County. The names of those restaurants were not provided by the department.

The number of restaurants ordered to close has been in decline in recent weeks. The list hit a high point for the week ending Dec. 20 with 40 closures, but it had shrunk to just three each of the past two weeks.

Several Berks restaurants have been included on previous closure lists, including the Douglassville Hotel in Amity Township on last week’s version.

The Douglassville Hotel also temporarily lost the ability to serve alcohol, but regained it after a reinspection.

Most of the closure orders in Berks were issued for restaurants that violated a now-expired temporary order that banned indoor dining.

Some restaurants that had been ordered to close for violating COVID-19 restrictions, including some in Berks, have refused to do so. The state has petitioned the Commonwealth Court for an injunction and damages against some of the restaurants.

Consumers with general food safety complaints or concerns about non-compliance for COVID-19 mitigation can file a report online at pda.pa.gov/FoodSafetyComplaint.