HARRISBURG, Pa. (EYT) – Gov. Tom Wolf extended the statewide Stay at Home order to May 8 during a press conference on Monday afternoon and announced some of the details of his plan to begin reopening the state economy shutdown by the coronavirus outbreak.
During the conference, Gov. Wolf announced some small steps toward reopening the state economy that are slated to begin on May 8.
“Our new case numbers have stabilized, and we have prevented the patient surges we were all so concerned about and that we’ve seen in other places. Pennsylvanians have made sure our hospitals were not overwhelmed, but we have done that at a cost. Today, I want to announce that we are taking small steps toward regaining a degree of normalcy in Pennsylvania,” Wolf stated.
The first of those steps will be offering curbside liquor sales at Pennsylvania Wine and Spirits stores.
“Right now many grocery stores pharmacies and general goods stores are offering curbside pickup. We’re going to expand this option to include, as I said earlier, 176 wine and spirit stores. We’ll closely monitor this to see if this can be done safely while limiting person to person contact not just at the stores but throughout the supply chain. This is going to help us determine if curbside pick up can be more broadly applied to a much more diverse retail landscape as well as to other industries.”
Two other steps involve the construction industry and the auto sales industry.
Wolf said the state will begin allowing for some limited construction sites to open, with strict guidelines for social distancing on the sites, beginning on May 8. He also noted he plans to sign a bill that will allow for online auto sales, as well as online notary services to facilitate those sales.
While Wolf showed optimism about the move forward, he also cautioned that moving too quickly could cause a surge in Coronavirus cases.
“I want to caution that this is not going to be resuming operations as they were in February. We still do not have a vaccine. We still don’t have an antibody test, and we still don’t have a way to cure COVID-19. Without continuing to take precautions we’re all going to see a resurgence of this deadly virus, so we cannot relax,” Wolf stated.
He stated the re-opening will be regional, possibly starting in more rural areas.
He also noted that the state will be closely monitoring how these steps affect the number of cases of Coronavirus and play into the further plan moving forward.
“We’ll closely monitor this to see if this can be done safely while limiting person to person contact not just at the stores but throughout the supply chain. This is going to help us determine if curbside pick up can be more broadly applied to a much more diverse retail landscape as well as to other industries.”
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