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Nearly 40 Pennsylvania restaurants have been ordered to shut down after defying a mandate by Gov. Tom Wolf temporarily banning indoor dining because of the coronavirus pandemic, a report said.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture announced the restaurants would be closed for allowing patrons to eat indoors, in violation of Wolf’s order from about two weeks ago, PennLive.com reported Thursday.
The mandate, which orders restaurants not to serve customers indoors for three weeks ending Jan. 4, also requires employees to wear masks while offering takeout and while serving outdoor customers, the report said.
Restaurants that continue to defy the closing orders and operate in any manner, according to the Department of Agriculture will be referred to the Pennsylvania Department of Health for further legal action.
About 79 visits to restaurants throughout the state were complaint-driven based on establishments offering dine-in service, said Shannon Powers, Department of Agriculture spokeswoman. The restaurants are among 180 establishments issued warnings by the department
The 40 restaurants were ordered to close for refusing to comply, while the others either agreed to stop dine-in service or had already done so, Powers said.
Some restaurant owners have unsuccessfully filed lawsuits against Wolf’s indoor dining ban. On Wednesday, a judge refused a plea by two central Pa. restaurants and a trade association to end enforcement of the indoor dining ban.
U.S. judge refuses to block Gov. Wolf’s COVID-19 inspired ban on indoor dining
Updated Dec 24, 2020;
Posted Dec 23, 2020
Fenicci s of Hershey is one of the central Pennsylvania restaurants that unsuccessfully challenged Gov, Wolf s ban on indoor dining in federal court.
Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com
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Saying the edict doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge Wednesday refused a plea by two midstate restaurants and a local trade association to block Gov. Tom Wolf from enforcing his temporary COVID-19 related ban on indoor dining at restaurants.
U.S. Middle District Judge Christopher C. Conner stressed that he understands the economic pain the dine-in prohibition is causing. Still, he concluded his court cannot intervene in the absence of a civil rights violation which the Hershey Independent Restaurant Association and the owners of the Fenicci’s of Hershey and The River House Bar & Grill failed to demonstrate.