Gov. Wolf lifts travel restrictions, increases maximum occupancy for events

Citing declining COVID-19 cases, the Wolf Administration announced that it would be lifting its out-of-state travel restrictions as of Monday.

Wolf said on Monday that as cases of the virus decline in the state and more Pennsylvanian’s receive vaccinations, he and his administration will be “taking a measured approach to revising or lifting mitigation orders.”

The first of these revised mitigation measures includes the elimination of Wolf’s travel restrictions first put into effect last November, as well as revised maximum occupancy limits for indoor and outdoor events.

“The reason we are seeing cases drop can be attributed, in part, to people following the mitigation efforts we have in place. Mask-wearing, social distancing and hand hygiene are making a difference and need to continue even as we see more and more people fully vaccinated,” Wolf said

in a statement. “We need to balance protecting public health with leading the state to a robust economic recovery. We are lifting mitigation efforts only when we believe it is safe to do so.”

As per the new mitigation plan, indoor events will be able to allow 15% of maximum occupancy and outdoor events can allow 20% of maximum occupancy, both regardless of venue size.

Anyone visiting Pennsylvania will also no longer need to self-quarantine for 14 days after entering the state.

In its announcement, the state outlined the data it used to decide on the revised efforts, including: 14% of the population under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Health has received at least one dose of vaccine, currently 6.3% of Pennsylvanians are COVID positive, the incident rate per 100,000 residents stands at 101.3 and hospital bed capacity is at 41%.