It’s going to be a blue Christmas in the Poconos for those in the hospitality industry.
When Gov. Tom Wolf’s newest mitigation orders were announced Thursday night, restaurant owners, operators and staff across the commonwealth cringed as they heard the latest impact on their industry: indoor dining was going to be shut down as of 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 12, and would not return until Jan. 4.
Wolf defended the measures — which also included further limitations on gatherings both indoors and outdoors, capacity limits for businesses, closures for in-person businesses in the entertainment industry and gym and fitness facilities, and restrictions on sports — as a means to keep the COVID-19 pandemic under control during a particularly troublesome time.