States Roll Out Most Stringent COVID Restrictions Since Spring

More states are imposing the most stringent restrictions on gatherings since the spring, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Wednesday (Dec. 23).

Officials are asking the public to avoid gatherings and travel in order to curb a surge in cases brought on by the holiday.

“We can’t let up now,” Dr. Rachel Levine, secretary of health in Pennsylvania, told WSJ. “We need to continue all our efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 in a very vulnerable time.”

On Dec. 10, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered movie theaters and bowling alleys to close through Jan. 4, and he limited restaurants to takeout only. Some businesses opted to defy the edict and face consequences, according to WSJ.

Brenda’s Family Restaurant in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, stayed open despite the mandate. Owner Brenda Reid told WSJ she “had no choice” but to go against the state’s order to close indoor dining because she and her eight employees rely on the income.

She added that if she closed now, it would likely be permanently, and then at 68 years old, she would be job hunting and “that’s a little hard,” she said, according to WSJ.

Once the pandemic took hold across the U.S. in March, most states issued stay-at-home orders and stopped all nonessential activity, WSJ reported. That helped new virus cases to stop escalating. Now, surging cases are forcing another shutdown.

North Carolina issued its first stay-at-home order on March 27, according to WSJ.

“We didn’t know how fast the virus was spreading, what we were really dealing with,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, North Carolina’s secretary of health and human services, per WSJ. “More importantly, we didn’t have our response capabilities up and mature.”

Now, North Carolina and has a curfew between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. for all nonessential activities, WSJ reported. Cohen and Gov. Roy Cooper announced the order on Dec. 8 and said it would last for at least a month.

PYMNTS December small- to medium-sized business (SMB) survey data indicated that 54 percent of SMBs surveyed said they are “very” or “extremely” likely to survive the pandemic; only 48 percent said the same in June.