Beaver County

Beaver County officially joins rest of region in yellow phase

BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — Beaver County stores, shoppers and businesses said they are excited to be joining the rest of southwest Pennsylvania in the yellow phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s reopening plan.

The high number of cases at a nursing facility kept Beaver County a week behind the rest of the region. The situation had gotten so bad, the National Guard was deployed to the facility and the state appointed a new manager.

Restaurants and businesses were already preparing to open in many spots throughout Beaver County despite not moving into the yellow phase until Friday. County officials said they were not going to prosecute businesses that opened their doors in violation of Gov. Wolf’s orders.

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Shop owners were excited to open their doors after being closed for more than 65 days.

“It’s been rough, absolutely. It’s been rough but you learn and you just take one day at a time,” Dominique Palomino with Miller’s Shoes said.

“So we’ve done a lot of things to put in place so you can enjoy the atmosphere. Try on anything you like and if you don’t purchase it, it’s okay. We clean it, totally sanitize for the next customer,” Kevin Bingle with Allan Jewelers said.

Many people were just happy to be moving forward.