HARRISBURG – In response to numerous concerns expressed by 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 Senator Judy Ward.
The delay in enforcement will provide additional time for the Department of Community and Economic Development to review the high volume of waiver requests that have been submitted by businesses that were ordered to close their physical locations on March 19.
Business owners can get clarification on whether their business is defined as life-sustaining by emailing the Department of Community and Economic Development (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.
In addition, 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.
Senator Judy Ward 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).
Additional 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.
CONTACT: Cheryl Schriner