COVID-19 Updates & Resources

Provided by Capital Associates

September 17, 2020 Weekly Update:

U.S District Court Overturns Governor’s Directive

Pennsylvania’s restrictions and limitations on crowd gatherings and the closure of nonessential businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic violated the First Amendment and the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment, according to an opinion issued on Monday by U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV.

The lawsuit, brought about by a complaint filed in May by Butler, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties, argued against the Wolf administration’s emergency orders closing non-life-sustaining businesses and imposing indoor and outdoor capacity limits for gatherings. In the ruling, Judge Stickman said that liberties provided by the Constitution do not contemplate the concept of a “new normal,” and cannot be waived or denied even during times of state or national emergency. Judge Stickman went even further to say that Gov. Wolf and Dr. Rachel Levine, the state’s Secretary of Health, crossed the line in using the pandemic to “supersede the commitment to individual liberty.”

Gov. Wolf said he plans to appeal the ruling of the federal court, and he vowed to take his appeal “as far as necessary to ensure that we can continue to do what I need to do to make sure Pennsylvanians stay safe.” Wolf also chastised President Donald Trump and Pennsylvania Republican leaders for trying to score political points in applauded the ruling by Judge Stickman.

The governor’s office said the ruling does not impact any of the other mitigation orders currently in place including, but not limited to the targeted mitigation orders announced in July, mandatory telework, mandatory mask order, worker safety order, and the building safety order.

House Bill 2615 (Restaurant Grant Program)

The House Commerce committee passed a bill that would provide for a grant program for restaurants adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  This bill would target smaller businesses and exclude restaurants that have greater than 10 locations with the same name, and more than 75 full-time employees.  The restaurants must demonstrate that they lost at least 50% revenue during the pandemic, from the previous year.  The grants would be used for payroll, mortgage/rent payments, costs incurred for training staff during COVID, and other utility costs.  The bill as drafted would provide $250,000,000 dollars from federal CARES money for the program.

On Thursday, Governor Wolf signed a new executive order allowing restaurants to serve 50% of their capacity starting on September 21^st.  The order requires that restaurants self-certify that they are following social distancing and other health protocols, in order to increase their capacity.  It also requires that establishments stop serving alcohol to patrons at 11:00 PM each night, and it be removed from patrons at 12:00 AM if they have not finished.  The changes in alcohol sales are effective for all establishments regardless of whether the business self-certifies.  Restaurants that self-certify will appear on a DOH database and will be searchable and accessible by the public. Included in self-certification is a list of protocols and policies that the establishment is certifying they are following.  The self-certification process and application will be available on September 21^st.