With some states beginning to open up for business and relax limitations put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on the States with the Fewest Coronavirus Restrictions, as well as accompanying videos.

To identify which states have the fewest coronavirus restrictions, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 9 key metrics. Our data set ranges from limits on large gatherings to the presence of a “shelter-in-place” order and whether restaurants and bars have reopened. Below, you can see highlights from the report, along with a WalletHub Q&A.

Coronavirus Restrictions in Pennsylvania (1=Fewest, 25=Avg.):

• 31^st – Requirement to Wear a Face Mask in Public
• 29^th – Travel Restrictions
• 39^th – Large Gatherings Restrictions
• 24^th – “Shelter in Place” Order
• 35^th – Reopening of Non-Essential Businesses
• 18^th – Reopening of Restaurants and Bars

Note: Rankings are based on data available as of 12:30 p.m. ET on Monday, May 4, 2020.

For the full report, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-fewest-coronavirus-restrictions/73818/

To continue to limit the spread of COVID-19, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf today provided guidance that details procedures businesses must follow to conduct in-person operations in counties slated to move to the yellow phase of reopening on May 8. All businesses, including non-profits, permitted to conduct in-person operations are subject to this guidance. This guidance is based on the building safety and business safety orders, under which nearly all life-sustaining businesses have been operating during the red phase.

Under the yellow phase of reopening, life-sustaining businesses that could not conduct either all or part of their operations via telework will continue to conduct their operations in-person, and many non-life sustaining businesses will be permitted to restart their in-person operations through the loosening of some restrictions under the stay-at-home and business closure orders.

In counties that have been designated as in the yellow phase, all businesses, except those categories specifically listed as remaining closed in the governor’s Plan to Reopen Pennsylvania, are permitted to conduct in-person operations, as long as they strictly adhere to the requirements of the guidance.

The guidance includes specific information on cleaning and disinfecting premises, limiting the number of employees in common areas and customers on premises, providing masks and sanitizing supplies for employees, installing shields or other barriers at registers and checkout areas to physically separate cashiers and customers, and creating a plan in case a business is exposed to a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19, among other provisions.

SBA announced that agricultural producers, for the first time, are now eligible for the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance programs.

SBA’s EIDL portal has been closed since April 15. However, the Agency is able to reopen the portal today, in a limited capacity, as a result of funding authorized by Congress through the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act. The legislation provided additional critical funding for farmers and ranchers affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In order to help facilitate this important change to EIDL Loan and EIDL Advance assistance eligibility, SBA is re-opening the Loan and Advance application portal to agricultural enterprises only. For agricultural producers that submitted an EIDL loan application through the streamlined application portal prior to the legislative change, SBA will move forward and process these applications without the need for re-applying. All other EIDL loan applications that were submitted prior to April 15 will be processed on a first-in, first-out basis.

The application is available at www.SBA.gov/Disaster or here.