PA Has Nation's 10th Most Stringent COVID-19 Restrictions: Study

PENNSYLVANIA — A new study has concluded that Pennsylvania currently has the nation's 10th-most severe coronavirus restrictions. The ranking indicates that the state has relaxed its COVID-19 mandates since August, when a similar study concluded that Pennsylvania had the second-most stringent restrictions.

Personal finance website WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 17 key metrics. The data set ranged from whether the state has any penalties for non-compliance with COVID-19 legislation to whether the state has required face masks in public and health checks at restaurants.

Here is how Pennsylvania ranked in certain metrics in the study:

• Travel restrictions: 15

• Working from home requirements: 16

• Requirements to wear a face mask in public: 18

• Reopening on non-essential businesses: 22

• Workplace temperature screening: 28

• Reopening of child-care programs: 31

• Large gathering restrictions: 32

• Reopening of restaurants and bars: 45

The study was released after a Bloomberg News report Monday that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to consider a legal challenge to Gov. Tom Wolf's restrictive measures during the coronavirus outbreak. That would be the second major legal victory for the Wolf administration in four days.

On Thursday, Wolf gained a court win on his statewide limits on crowd sizes when a federal appeals court ruled the restrictions can remain while his administration appeals a Pittsburgh federal judge's ruling that the limits are unconstitutional.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the state could return to limiting gatherings to 25 people indoors and 250 people outside during the appeals process. The decision came little more than two weeks after U.S. District Judge William Stickman ruled the restrictions violated the constitutional rights of people to assemble.

According to WalletHub, here are the top 10 states with the most restrictive coronavirus regulations:

1. Hawaii

2. California

3. Oregon

4. Arizona

5. Colorado

6. New Jersey

7. Maine

8. Massachusetts

9. California

10. Pennsylvania

See the entire study here.