Doors open again

Venue occupancy limits eased, out-of-state travel rules ended

Gov. Wolf lifts restrictions allowing fans back into games.

Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday announced his administration would immediately lift certain COVID-19 mitigation orders regarding indoor and outdoor events, as well as travel restrictions.

Indoor events can now allow 15% occupancy regardless of venue size. Outdoor events will be allowed to hit 20% capacity.

The changes still require venues to enforce mask-wearing, social distancing and hand-washing, the governor’s office said.

Travel restrictions requiring people entering Pennsylvania from out of state to either do a 14day quarantine or provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test were also rescinded.

Mr. Wolf’s administration cited dropping COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations, as well as the 2.4 million doses of vaccine administered in the commonwealth, as reasons for the changes but urged caution as the virus continues to spread.

“Pennsylvania is taking a measured approach to revising or lifting mitigation orders,” Mr. Wolf wrote in a statement. “The reason

we are seeing cases drop can be attributed, in part, to people following the mitigation efforts we have in place.”

He continued: “We need to balance protecting public health with leading the state to a robust economic recovery. We are lifting mitigation efforts only when we believe it is safe to do so.”

The previous order had lower occupancy limits based on size, such as 10% capacity for indoor venues that fit 2,000 people or fewer and 5% capacity for venues with a 2,001 to 10,000-person maximum occupancy.

The announcement came as Pennsylvania on Monday reported a two-day total of 3,573 new cases of the virus, bringing the state’s overall count to 933,270. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reports there were 26 new deaths over the two-day period and there have been 24,026 deaths attributed to the virus in the commonwealth.

But overall, daily cases in the state have declined for more than a month. Between Feb. 19 and 25, the Department of Health reported 2,221 fewer cases than the prior week.

And fewer people are testing positive for the virus, with only 6.3% of tests last week returning positive results. There are 20 counties with a positivity rate lower than 5%, and no counties report higher than 20%.

In Allegheny County, the local Health Department reported a two-day increase of 404 new cases of COVID-19.

Of the new cases, 274 are confirmed and 130 are probable. Among confirmed cases, the tests were conducted between Feb. 15 and 28. Two tests were from over a week ago, the Health Department said.

Newly infected people ranged in age from 3 months to 92 years.

And the local vaccine rollout will ramp up this week with 4,000 scheduled to receive the inoculation at Heinz Field. The clinic, a partnership between the Steelers and Giant Eagle, filled up all of its phone appointments within an hour Monday.

The grocery store chain hopes to be able to hold additional clinics in the coming weeks if the vaccine supply is available, Giant Eagle spokesman Dick Roberts said.

There were no new deaths from the virus reported in the county on Monday, but the total COVID-19 deaths attributed to Allegheny County residents decreased by one after a person was found to have lived in another county, the Health Department said. Virus deaths now stand at 1,668 since March 14.

In total, the county has seen 76,853 cases of COVID19 since last March.