HARRISBURG – In response to numerous concerns expressed by statewide business leaders and lawmakers, enforcement of Governor Wolf’s order for all non-life-sustaining businesses to close has been delayed until Monday, according to State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-33)
The delay in enforcement will provide additional time for the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to review the high volume of waiver requests that have been submitted by businesses previously ordered to close their physical locations on March 19.
“Thanks to considerable feedback from local residents and businesses, the Governor backtracked on his hasty and haphazard decision,” said Mastriano. “I am encouraging all area businesses that are unsure about their status to complete a timely waiver application. We are all in this together and when it ends, we will be stronger than ever.”
Business owners can get clarification on whether their business is defined as life-sustaining by emailing DCED at ra-dcedcs@pa.gov or calling 1-877-724-3258. An online waiver application for businesses that believe they should be considered life-sustaining is available here.
Additionally, the list of businesses that are considered to be life-sustaining was expanded to include more critical industries. A number of industries that are essential to medical and manufacturing supply chains were initially excluded. The updated list is available here.
Mastriano is also reminding businesses and non-profits who have been affected financially by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak to consider applying for low-interest loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Information is available by contacting SBA’s disaster assistance customer service center by calling 1-800-659-2955 (TTY: 1-800-877-8339) or e-mailing disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.
Additional funding for impacted businesses will also be available from DCED at a later date.
The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry also has a webpage dedicated to helping businesses deal with coronavirus concerns at www.pachamber.org/coronavirus.
CONTACT: Scot Andrew Pitzer; spitzer@pasen.gov