Governor Tom Wolf has ordered Pennsylvania bars and restaurants to close alcohol sales at 10 p.m. nightly starting September 21, the state announced Tuesday morning.

Wolf also said restaurants can begin increasing their indoor dining capacities to 50% starting on Monday, September 21.

“While our aggressive and appropriate mitigation efforts have kept case counts low, we must continue to take important steps to protect public health and safety as we head into the fall,” Wolf said. “At the same time, we must also support the retail food services industry that has struggled throughout this pandemic. The self-certification ensures that ​restaurants can expand indoor operations and commit to all appropriate orders so that employees and customers alike can be confident they are properly protected.” 

During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said the new restriction is largely aimed at preventing younger individuals (read: college students) from gathering in bars and restaurants.

“We have seen a significant increase in terms of the [case] numbers in 19-to-24-year-olds,” Levine said. “Those numbers throughout the state have been going up significantly. We have seen outbreaks at many colleges in Pennsylvania. [College and university administrators are] recommending them not to congregate in parties. We didn’t want them to congregate in restaurants/bars and be all together and so we put in the mitigation effort to prevent them from serving liquor after 10 o’clock.”

To date, Penn State has reported 416 students coronavirus cases at University Park. Meanwhile, Centre County has reported 686 cases and 11 deaths since March 20.