2:36 p.m. ET, March 15, 2021
Pennsylvania will ease restrictions on restaurants and businesses starting April 4
From CNN’s Jennifer Henderson
An empty restaurant is seen in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 17.
Keith Srakocic/AP
Due to a decline in Covid-19 cases and climbing vaccination rates, Pennsylvania will ease restrictions on restaurants and businesses, and increase mass gathering limits starting April 4, according to a news release from Gov. Tom Wolf’s office Monday.
Indoor dining capacity at restaurants that are self-certified or are undergoing the self-certification process will be raised to 75%, the release states. Restaurants that are not self-certified can raise their capacity to 50%. To be self-certified, restaurants must agree to strictly comply with all public health safety guidelines and orders.
The curfew for removing drinks from tables will be lifted in restaurants, bar service will resume, and customers will no longer have to order food in order to purchase alcohol on April 4, according to the release.
Capacity limits for personal service facilities, gyms and entertainment facilities like casinos, malls and theaters will increase to 75%. Indoor venues will now be allowed to have up to 25% capacity and outdoor venues will be allowed 50% capacity, the release added.
Pennsylvania's Covid-19 numbers: The state reported 1,388 new cases of coronavirus Monday in addition to 1,914 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, according to data from the Department of Health.
Pennsylvania had 14 additional Covid-19 deaths over the weekend for a total of 24,587 deaths from Covid-19, the department added.
The state has administered more than 3.6 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines with more than 1.2 million people fully vaccinated. An average of 76,000 people are being vaccinated a day.
Note: These numbers were released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.