Restaurants, bars protest Pa. tightening

HARRISBURG, Pa. — As Pennsylvania approached 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases Friday, restaurant and bar owners say they will fight Gov. Tom Wolf ’s orders to further limit the number of patrons they’re allowed to serve.

Wolf ’s order this week to reduce occupancy at bars and restaurants from 50 percent to 25 percent will drive them out of business or into debt, restaurant owners said, asserting his administration lacks the data to target them as the reason behind the spike in coronavirus cases in some parts of the state.

At a news conference outside a suburban Harrisburg restaurant, restaurant owners said they are laying off staff and taking yet another hit, with barely any notice before the governor announced new restrictions Wednesday.

“Here we are going into a weekend, and he just drops the hammer on us,” said Matt Flinchbaugh, owner of Flinchy’s Restaurant & Bar, a few miles from the state Capitol.

With various legal challenges to Wolf ’s disaster emergency authority having failed, industry officials and state Republican lawmakers acknowledged they’ll have to prevail in the court of public opinion and get Democratic lawmakers to join them in challenging Wolf through legislation.

John Longstreet, CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, said there is no public health difference between 50 percent capacity — the order before Thursday — and the 25 percent capacity order.

“There will be no statistics to show that 25 percent makes sense because they don’t exist,” Longstreet said. “The only thing that exists is that face-masking and social distancing works.”

Restaurant owners also contend that restrictions and practices at restaurants and bars were already tighter than they are at big box stores, casinos and other businesses.