Governor Tom Wolf said on Friday that he will remove most coronavirus restrictions on 17 mostly western and north-central counties on May 29. The counties moving to the “green” phase are Bradford, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Montour, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Venango and Warren.
Wolf said he’d planned to move Centre County to green, but local officials told him they didn’t feel the county was ready yet.
“We honored their request that they not move into the green. I think they’ve done a phenomenal job,” Wolf said. “Yet, they don’t feel they’re ready and we honored that. We were sensitive to their request.”
In the counties moving to green, most restrictions will be lifted, but concerts, sporting events and festivals will be restricted. Restaurants and stores will also be limited to welcoming fewer customers at once. Gyms, theaters and casinos will also be allowed to open at a limited capacity.
The governor said he plans to move Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Lebanon, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, and Schuylkill counties to yellow on May 29.
Currently, 49 out 67 Pennsylvania counties are in Wolf’s yellow phase, meaning people can leave their home for any reason but many other restrictions remain in place.
“Our ability to identify and isolate cases of COVID-19 has increased, and this will allow every Pennsylvanian in our commonwealth to resume a more normal life without constant fear of contracting COVID-19,” Wolf said.
The 10 remaining red counties are Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Northampton, Montgomery, and Philadelphia.
Wolf plans to ease coronavirus restrictions on all Pennsylvania counties by June 5.
