A Pennsylvania restaurant industry leader told state lawmakers Tuesday that Gov. Tom Wolf’s recent virus mitigation order limiting public dining rooms to 25% capacity could cause 7,500 restaurants in the state to close.
“That would be a disaster of epic proportions,” said John Longstreet, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association.
Longstreet said the 7,500 figure was based in part on an online survey. His comments came at a hearing held by the Republican-led House Majority Policy Committee in the Capitol.
The focus was the July 15 announcement by Wolf, a Democrat, to impose a 25% capacity limit on indoor dining rooms. At the time, many restaurants had already reopened to 50% capacity after earlier virus restrictions were eased.
Meanwhile, eight Democratic House lawmakers signed a letter to Wolf that called the 25% restaurant limit “unsustainable” and urged him to order a return to a 50% capacity limit.
When Wolf announced the 25% restrictions, he cited pockets of coronavirus “super-spreading” and increasing virus case counts that previously were declining. Wolf said part of the cause was careless actions by bar and restaurant patrons who were “annoyingly spreading, or annoyingly picking up, the virus.”
Wolf ? backed by Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine ? said immediate action was required to prevent a new surge of cases in Pennsylvania that could be worse than the state’s peak of about 2,000 new cases April 9. The state reported 1,120 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, including 52 new cases in the Lehigh Valley.
Greg Cammarata, owner of the Iron Rock Tap House in Westmoreland County, testified along with the restaurant’s executive chef, Arnold Ivey.
The chef said the restaurant closed for two weeks after an employee was found to have a case of coronavirus. But state agencies could offer no clear guidelines on what a restaurant should do when that scenario ? which Ivey called “inevitable” ? happened.
And, Ivey said, restaurants have no guidance on what to expect going forward.
“Everybody is just kind of flying by the seat of their pants,” Ivey said. “Flying blind.”
Cammarata said contact tracers employed by the state communicated with his approximately 75 employees in a way that “scared essentially every one of my employees into quarantine.”
The employees, Cammarata said, were scared of incarceration or home visits by state-hired tracers. Despite reduced income, Cammarata said he still has to meet a “$20,000-a-month mortgage.”
The industry, Cammarata told lawmakers, is “limping along” and needs help.
Committee Chairman Rep. Martin Causer of McKean County said Wolf administration officials were invited to testify but declined.
Levine later said at a separate press conference she had a “really busy day.”
But Levine submitted written testimony in which she outlined the scenario that led to the July 15 order. Among the facts she cited was a burst of 758 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus between June 24 and July 7 in Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
“State and federal public health agencies have recognized the closure of restaurants and bars as an effective mitigation measure in the spread of COVID-19,” Levine wrote.
And she pointed out, “Other areas of the country have implemented these measures to varying degrees, including Texas, which has closed bars and limited restaurants to 50% capacity.”
During her press conference, Levine said she and Wolf would not consider making changes to the 25% rule until around Aug. 7.
The Democrats who signed the letter to Wolf urging a return to a 50% capacity limit were Reps. Frank Burns, Ryan Bizzaro, Patrick Harkins, Chris Sainato, Robert Merski, Mark Longietti, Scott Conklin, and Joe Petrarca.
At the hearing, Mick Owens, owner of Mick’s All American Pubs and Maize Mexican Cantina in Lancaster County, told lawmakers that Wolf could have used a scalpel to deal with increasing virus case counts, but instead chose a machete.
Owens said he and his wife have had no income since the start of the pandemic.
Chuck Moran, executive director of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage & Tavern Association, testified many tavern owners have been caught in a downward spiral since the pandemic began.
“Gov. Wolf’s order on July 15 was a setback for every tavern and licensed restaurant in the state ? including the good apples who were doing everything right,” Moran said in submitted testimony.
Moran called the 25% limit a “shotgun” approach that hit wrong targets. He said state government should consider financial grants for businesses and putting aside license fees for two years.
Morning Call Capitol correspondent Ford Turner can be reached at fturner@mcall.com.
