Pennsylvania’s stay at home order: Where can I go during the coronavirus pandemic? What is allowed?

Grocery shoppers during coronavirus pandemic

Shoppers at Giant in Hampden Township. Giant has a dedicated senior shopping hour during the first opening hour from 6-7 a.m. daily, during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, March 20, 2020. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has expanded his stay at home order to four new counties, including Dauphin and Cumberland.

Carbon and Schuylkill counties have also been added to the list, which now stands at 26. The order takes effect at 8 p.m., on Mon., March 30, 2020, and will continue until April 30.

A total of 693 new confirmed coronavirus cases were reported in Pa., as of 12:01 a.m. on Monday, which brings the statewide total to 4,087. There is at least one confirmed case in 59 of the state’s 67 counties.

The Wolf administrations released a list of what’s OK and what isn’t if you live in a county that is under the stay at home order. The long and short version is that it’s fine to make trips for life-sustaining reasons or to care for a family member, but non-essential trips and leaving home, period, are to be avoided if at all possible.

Author’s note: We’ve received many questions overnight about whether or not people in the counties with stay at home orders can still go to pick up take-out or curbside food orders at the restaurants that remain open. The answer is yes, you can.

Here’s the full rundown of when or why residents can leave their home, courtesy of a news release about the order:

"Individuals may leave their residence only to perform any of the following allowable individual activities and allowable essential travel:

  • Tasks essential to maintain health and safety, or the health and safety of their family or household members (including pets), such as obtaining medicine or medical supplies, visiting a health care professional, or obtaining supplies they need to work from home
  • Getting necessary services or supplies for themselves, for their family or household members, or as part of volunteer efforts, or to deliver those services or supplies to others to maintain the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences
  • Engaging in outdoor activity, such as walking, hiking or running if they maintain social distancing
  • To perform work providing essential products and services at a life-sustaining business
  • To care for a family member or pet in another household
  • Any travel related to the provision of or access to the above-mentioned individual activities or life-sustaining business activities
  • Travel to care for elderly, minors, dependents, persons with disabilities, or other vulnerable persons
  • Travel to or from educational institutions for purposes of receiving materials for distance learning, for receiving meals, and any other related services
  • Travel to return to a place of residence from an outside jurisdiction
  • Travel required by law enforcement or court order
  • Travel required for non-residents to return to their place of residence outside the commonwealth
  • Anyone performing life-sustaining travel does not need paperwork to prove the reason for travel.

The following operations are exempt:

  • Life-sustaining business activities
  • Health care or medical services providers
  • Access to life-sustaining services for low-income residents, including food banks
  • Access to child care services for employees of life-sustaining businesses that remain open as follows: child care facilities operating under the Department of Human Services, Office of Child Development and Early Learning waiver process; group and family child care operating in a residence; and part-day school age programs operating under an exemption from the March 19, 2020 business closure Orders
  • News media
  • Law enforcement, emergency medical services personnel, firefighters
  • The federal government
  • Religious institutions"

The full 26 county listing includes:

Allegheny, Beaver, Berks, Bucks, Butler, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Pike, Schuylkill, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland and York.

More of PennLive’s coronavirus coverage:

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