The state Department of Agriculture shut down 21 restaurants last week for violating COVID mitigation orders.
While restaurants were allowed to reopen Jan. 4 following a three-week shutdown ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf, they still must abide by capacity limits of 25% to 50%, masking of employees, and limits on alcohol sales.
Each of the restaurants ordered to be shut down were found to be operating in violation of the orders, and management refused to make corrections while an inspector was present, officials said.
The Department of Agriculture inspects restaurants only in counties that do not have health departments .They do not perform restaurant inspections in Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Erie, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.
Three Lancaster County restaurants are among 24 businesses the state ordered to close last week for violations of COVID-19 mitigation requirements.
The âclosed by noticeâ orders from the state Department of Agriculture were issued for the week ending Jan. 10. A three-week ban on indoor dining was not in place then, but there are still limits on indoor dining as well as masking requirements for employees, among other continuing rules. Lancaster city, which does its own restaurant inspections, did not issue any closure orders last week.
An agriculture department spokeswoman said the 24 restaurants were given closure orders after they refused to correct violations of dining capacity limits or masking rules while an inspector was present.
Two dozen more Pa. restaurants receive closure notices for defying COVID orders
Updated Jan 13, 2021;
Posted Jan 13, 2021
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture announced another round of closure notices for restaurants.
File photo by Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comTHE PATRIOT-NEWS
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More restaurants in Pennsylvania have been ordered to close for not following the state’s COVID-19 enforcement orders.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture announced today 24 restaurants received closure notices for defying Gov. Tom Wolf’s measures. The inspections took place Jan. 4-10.
In the one week period, the department conducted 729 inspections of which 171 visits were prompted by complaints about COVID-19 mitigation orders not being followed. An additional 130 of those visits were deemed followups for COVID-specific complaints.
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