Effective Monday, May 17, Pennsylvania will allow indoor events and gatherings to take place at 50% of normal occupancy and outdoor gatherings to be up to 75%.
The current limits, imposed to help control the coronavirus pandemic, are 25% indoors and 50% outdoors. Gov. Tom Wolf's administration announced the new limits Tuesday afternoon.
“As more Pennsylvania adults get vaccinated and guidance from the CDC evolves, we can continue to move forward with the commonwealth’s reopening efforts,” Gov. Wolf said in a statement.
Municipalities, schools and businesses are free to impose stricter limits if they wish, the governor's office said.
The new limits do not affect the state's mask mandate, which remains in effect. It has been updated to reflect Centers for Disease Control & Prevention guidance, and allows fully vaccinated individuals to forego masks in most outdoor settings.
Last week, the administration announced it will lift all Covid-19 mitigation measures except the masking mandate on Memorial Day. The mask order will remain in place until 70% of adult Pennsylvanians are vaccinated, it said.
A group of state Senators, led by Lancaster County's Sen. Scott Martin, is asking Wolf to push the reopening date from Memorial Day to the preceding Friday.
Doing so would allow businesses, particularly those in the restaurant and hospitality sectors "to have a full holiday weekend to begin to recoup the losses they suffered during Covid-19," they said.
