SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — Governor Tom Wolf strongly urged all non-essential businesses to close for at least 14 days.
Newswatch 16 took a drive around a few Schuylkill County communities to see which businesses, if any, are open or if anybody was out and about, taking social distancing and quarantining seriously.
Along East Centre Street in Mahanoy City is 123 Cafe, which is usually packed around, but not now. The cafe is following the statewide order for all restaurants and is doing takeout and delivery only. The same can be said for Carini's Pizza and Subs. While the governor suggested non-essential businesses close, some "open" signs were still lit up.
From Mahanoy City, a short drive to Frackville, where the Free Public Library has a sign on the door stating it will be closed through March 28. With schools shutdown statewide to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, we found a group of kids who say they were desperate to get outside and shoot some hoops. Others say they're taking all of this day by day.
"I'm tired of being inside," Evan Miernicki said. "It's boring. You need to sit on the couch, and when you're outside, you can run around and do what you want."
"The way I feel about it is if you're going to get it, you're going to get it regardless," Steven Quinn Sr. said. "Of course, try to be careful don't be around people who are sick and coughing a lot. Just take it day by day, I guess."
From Frackville a drive down Route 61 to Pottsville, where the streets were a little bit more barren than usual for this time of day.
Along Centre Street, more businesses with signs on their doors stating they're shut down. But not Momma Millie's Bakery. Here, owner Mildred Kennedy is adapting to a new reality.
"How we can function is we must keep our door locked," Kennedy said. "You may call, place your order, we will come curbside. We can't let anybody in. It's how we're going to stay open."
Businesses everywhere are having to change on the fly, too.