existing health issues, and other essential workers including public safety workers, wastewater plant workers, elected government officials, the judiciary, legal service workers, media workers, and communications workers. in phase 2, the vaccine will be available to the general population over age 16. on january 19, the state expanded covid-19 vaccine eligibility to people over age 65 and people age 16–64 with health conditions that put them at higher risk. on january 23, health secretary dr. rachel levine stepped down from her post after being nominated by president joe biden to be assistant secretary for health for the united states department of health and human services. february 2021 on february 12, acting health secretary alison beam issued a new covid-19 vaccine order intended to speed up the administration of the vaccine. under this order, vaccine providers must administer 80 percent of their first doses of the vaccine within seven days of receiving them and must also provide an appointment card and schedule an appointment for the second dose of two-dose vaccines. in addition, vaccine providers must have both an online and phone-based registration system. vaccine providers must also record information on each vaccine administered and keep track of inventory levels. on february 17, the pennsylvania department of health announced that several vaccine providers accidentally gave second doses of the moderna covid-19 vaccine as first doses, leading to a shortage of available vaccine doses and forcing upcoming vaccination appointments to be rescheduled or canceled. on february 19, governor wolf effectively extended the state's disaster declaration by signing a 90-day extension bill. the renewal, the fourth since the original declaration on march 6, 2020, "will allow the commonwealth to maintain its response and support efforts as we continue testing, contact tracing and vaccination efforts to keep pennsylvanians safe," wolf stated. march 2021 a statue of martin luther at united lutheran seminary-gettysburg wearing a mask in march 2021. on march 1, governor wolf increased capacity limits for indoor and outdoor events, with indoor events limited to 15 percent maximum occupancy and outdoor events limited to 20 percent maximum occupancy. the state also eliminated the requirement that people traveling to pennsylvania must get a covid-19 test within 72 hours of arrival or quarantine for 14 days. on march 3, governor wolf announced plans to make the one-dose janssen covid-19 vaccine available to teachers and school staff in order to get students back into the classroom for in-person instruction. on march 6 marks 1 year since pa reported its first 2 confirmed cases of covid-19 on march 15, governor wolf announced the lifting of more restrictions effective april 4. restaurants are allowed to increase indoor dining to 75 percent capacity with self-certification or 50 percent capacity without self-certification. in addition, restaurants are allowed to resume bar service, alcohol will allowed to be served without the purchase of food, and the curfew for removing alcohol from tables will be eliminated. also effective april 4, personal services, gyms, and entertainment will be allowed to increase to 75 percent capacity, indoor events will be allowed to increase to 25 percent maximum occupancy, and outdoor events will be allowed to increase to 50 percent maximum occupancy. on march 22, the state revised the mask mandate to allow fully vaccinated people to gather without masks or social distancing and to allow fully vaccinated people to gather without masks or social distancing with a single household that is not vaccinated but is considered low risk of severe disease from covid-19. on march 31, the state announced expanded eligibility for the covid-19 vaccine. effective march 31, law enforcement officials, probation and parole staff, firefighters, and grocery store workers will be eligible to receive the vaccine. the remainder of phase 1b will be eligible on april 5, phase 1c will be eligible on april 12, and all pennsylvanians will be eligible on april 19. the expansion in vaccine eligibility was made possible as the pace of vaccinations has picked up. april 2021 on april 12, the state announced all pennsylvania residents age 16 and older outside philadelphia would be eligible to receive the covid-19 vaccine effective april 13, six days earlier than originally planned. on april 27, the pennsylvania department of health announced that it updated mask guidance for fully vaccinated people. fully vaccinated people are no longer required to wear a mask outdoors unless they are in crowded spaces; unvaccinated people are still required to wear a mask in most situations. may 2021 on may 4, the state announced that all covid-19 mitigation orders will be lifted on may 31, with the exception of the mask mandate. the mask mandate will be lifted when 70% of residents age 18 and older are fully vaccinated. on may 11, governor wolf announced that gathering limits will increase to 50 percent capacity for indoor gatherings and to 75 percent capacity for outdoor gatherings effective may 17. on may 13, the state announced that fully vaccinated people will no longer be required to wear masks outdoors in crowds or in most indoor settings. masks will still be required for fully vaccinated people in crowded indoor settings including buses, airplanes, hospitals, prisons, and homeless shelters. on may 27, acting health secretary beam announced that the state mask mandate will be fully lifted on june 28 or when 70% of residents age 18 and older are fully vaccinated, whichever comes first. june 2021 on june 10, the pennsylvania state senate voted in favor of a resolution terminating the disaster emergency declaration issued by governor wolf; the pennsylvania house of representatives voted in favor of it on june 8. the pennsylvania state senate also voted in favor of a bill to keep waivers of state regulations in place through september 30, 2021. on june 28, the mask mandate in pennsylvania was lifted. masks are still required on planes, trains, buses, and public transportation. in addition, organizations, businesses, and healthcare providers can still require masks at their discretion. july 2021 on july 22, the city of philadelphia recommended people wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status, due to a rise in cases among unvaccinated people including children. on july 29, health officials in montgomery county recommended all teachers, students, staff, and visitors wear masks in school buildings when the new school year begins, regardless of vaccination status, in accordance with updated cdc guidance. august 2021 on august 4, pennsylvania state university announced that students, staff, and visitors will be required to wear masks in indoor spaces on all of its campuses. on august 6, the university of pennsylvania announced students and staff will be required to wear masks indoors with some exceptions. on august 10, governor wolf announced that about 25,000 employees of state prisons and state healthcare and congregate care facilities will be required to be fully vaccinated by september 7 or take weekly covid-19 tests. on august 13, montgomery county announced staff and visitors to county government buildings will be required to wear masks, while recommending all people regardless of vaccination status wear masks in indoor public places. on august 31, governor wolf announced that students, teachers, and staff in all public and private k-12 schools and child care facilities will be required to wear masks effective september 7 amid a rise in cases caused by the sars-cov-2 delta variant. september 2021 on september 3, officials in montgomery county announced that effective september 6, people will be recommended to wear masks outdoors if they cannot practice social distancing regardless of vaccination status. this recommendation was made after montgomery county was in the high level of community transmission of covid-19 for two weeks. november 2021 on november 8, governor wolf announced that school districts will be allowed to modify or end the mask mandate for k-12 students effective january 17, 2022. the mask mandate will remain in place for early learning and childcare facilities. on november 10, a state court threw out the mask mandate for k-12 schools issued by acting health secretary beam, stating she lacked authority to issue a mandate. the wolf administration immediately filed an appeal to the pennsylvania supreme court. on november 16, commonwealth court judge christine fizzano cannon ruled that the statewide mask mandate for k-12 schools and childcare facilities must expire december 4. on november 30, the pennsylvania supreme court ruled 5-1 that the mask mandate for k-12 schools and childcare facilities remain in place as it considers the appeal to the lawsuit that overturned the mandate. december 2021 on december 10, the pennsylvania supreme court upheld the lower court ruling that threw out the mask mandate for k-12 schools issued by acting health secretary beam. on december 22, temple university announced that classes for the first three weeks of the spring 2022 semester will be held virtually due to the rise in covid-19 cases caused by the sars-cov-2 omicron variant. january 2022 on january 6, lehigh university announced that classes during the first week of the spring 2022 semester would mostly be held virtually while also requiring returning students to be tested for covid-19. on january 24, the pennsylvania department of corrections announced all in-person visits to state prisons will be suspended from january 27 to february 28 due to a surge of covid-19 cases. government response the tla on march 17, 2020, during the city of philadelphia's closure during the covid-19 pandemic as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, governor wolf has implemented social distancing measures in bucks, chester, delaware, and montgomery counties in the philadelphia suburbs along with allegheny county in the pittsburgh area, which urges non-essential businesses operations and services to close, such as malls, movie theaters, and casinos. essential businesses such as gas stations, grocery stores, and pharmacies will remain open. essential services such as police, fire, and emergency medical services will be available. starting march 16, 2020, bars and restaurants will be ordered to close to dine-in customers in those counties. in addition, non-essential travel is discouraged. a no visitor policy was implemented for correctional facilities and nursing homes statewide. on march 17, 2020, all fine wine & good spirits stores across the state closed at the end of the business day. on march 19, 2020, governor wolf ordered all non-life sustaining businesses to close. on march 22, 2020, philadelphia mayor jim kenney issued a stay-at-home order for the city, set to take effect the following day at 8:00 am. on march 23, 2020, governor wolf issued additional stay at home orders for seven counties: allegheny, bucks, chester, delaware, montgomery, monroe, and a redundant order for philadelphia county, to go into effect at 8:00 pm the same day. stay-at-home orders were issued for erie county on march 24, 2020; lehigh and northampton counties on march 25, 2020; berks, butler, lackawanna, lancaster, luzerne, pike, wayne, westmoreland, and york counties on march 27, 2020; beaver, centre, and washington counties on march 28, 2020; and the entire state on april 1, 2020. variable-message sign along interstate 376 in carnegie, just outside of pittsburgh, telling people to continue social distancing on march 16, 2020, the social distancing measures were extended to the entire state, while philadelphia mayor jim kenney ordered nonessential businesses and city government to close for two weeks. starting march 17, 2020, septa regional rail trains in the philadelphia area will operate on an enhanced saturday schedule for two weeks due to reduced ridership and staffing. in addition, septa will offer refunds for unused and partially used passes. the pennsylvania turnpike commission announced that cash or credit cards would not be accepted at toll plazas along the pennsylvania turnpike system starting at 8 p.m. on march 16, 2020. all tolls were collected electronically by e-zpass or toll-by-plate. the all-electronic tolling was intended to be temporary, but in june 2020 the move to all-electronic tolling became permanent, with toll collectors laid off. on march 19, 2020, the state's department of education announced that all statewide assessments would be canceled for the remainder of the 2019–2020 school year. on march 22, 2020, governor tom wolf announced the commonwealth would likely postpone its democratic and republican primary elections from april 28, 2020, to june 2, 2020. on march 27, 2020, wolf signed a bill moving the primary elections to june 2, 2020. the pennsylvania department of transportation extended expiration dates as a result of the pandemic. the expiration