Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) is reminding people that under an order from the Pennsylvania Secretary of Health, masks are required inside businesses, including restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, markets and grocery stores. Masks are important tools to stop the spread of COVID-19. The virus that causes COVID-19 is spread through tiny droplets that leave our mouths and noses when we talk, laugh, cough or sneeze. A mask stops those droplets from spreading to others. Masks should be worn over the mouth and nose. Remember: My mask protects you. Your mask protects me.

Inside restaurants, customers may only remove their masks when they are seated. Masks must be worn when entering, leaving or walking through the restaurant, including when picking up takeout food. All restaurant employees must wear masks at work. Exceptions can only be made for medical conditions or if the mask would impede an employee’s vision or create an unsafe working condition. Employers must provide non-medical masks for employees to wear or may approve homemade masks.

The CDC recommends that children under 2 not wear masks. People who cannot wear a mask due to a medical condition are not required to wear masks and are not required to provide documentation of such medical condition.

More information for restaurants regarding COVID-19 is available on the Health Department’s Food Safety Program’s website at www.achd.net/food. Information on COVID-19 in Allegheny County including the latest numbers and testing locations is available at www.alleghenycounty.us/coronavirus.