{"id":32851,"date":"2020-09-09T08:51:27","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T12:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=32851"},"modified":"2020-09-09T08:51:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T12:51:32","slug":"wolf-gives-green-light-to-restaurants-increasing-indoor-capacity-to-50-sept-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=32851","title":{"rendered":"Wolf gives green light to restaurants increasing indoor capacity to 50%, Sept. 21"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hands with glasses over a festive table.<\/p><\/div>\n

Offering some hope to local struggling restaurants, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Tuesday that he would ease indoor seating restrictions from a max of 25% percent of capacity to 50% of capacity \u2014 but would require restaurants to stop serving alcohol after 10 p.m. and eateries to “self certify” that they are meeting all health and safety requirements.<\/p>\n

“While our aggressive and appropriate mitigation efforts have kept case counts low, we must continue to take important steps to protect public health and safety as we head into the fall. At the same time, we must also support the retail food services industry that has struggled throughout this pandemic,\u201d Gov. Wolf said in a statement. \u201cThe self-certification ensures that \u200brestaurants can expand indoor operations and commit to all appropriate orders so that employees and customers alike can be confident they are properly protected.\u201d <\/p>\n

Restaurants that self-certify will appear in the Open & Certified Pennsylvania searchable online database of certified\u00a0restaurants across the commonwealth. Consumers will be able to access this database and find certified businesses in their area, ensuring that consumers can make more informed choices about the food establishments they are looking to patronize.<\/p>\n

The self-certification documents and information about the Open & Certified Pennsylvania program can be found online\u00a0starting September 21\u00a0and will\u00a0contain the following:<\/p>\n