Bout time.

Today Philly and surrounding counties entered Pennsylvania’s “yellow phase” as part of Governor Tom Wolf’s plan to reopen the state commonwealth. We’d been stuck in red for a couple of months, essentially meaning that we can’t do jack shit outside of our houses.

The yellow phase is described as “aggressive mitigation,” with the following work and congregation restrictions:

And these are the social restrictions:

  • Stay at Home Order Lifted for Aggressive Mitigation
  • Large Gatherings of More than 25 Prohibited
  • In-Person Retail Allowable, Curbside and Delivery Preferable
  • Indoor Recreation, Health and Wellness Facilities and Personal Care Services (such as gyms, spas, hair salons, nail salons and other entities that provide massage therapy), and all Entertainment (such as casinos, theaters) Remain Closed
  • Restaurants and Bars May Open Outdoor Dining, in Addition to Carry-Out and Delivery (effective 6/5/2020)

That all seems like a step forward to me, but here in Philadelphia, additional guidelines and rules have been issued, with a couple of sports-related bullets in bold:

  • Avoid gatherings of any size during this phase—yes, that includes having friends over for a barbecue.
  • Travel is allowed but not recommended.
  • Group sports and organized sports leagues are not permitted.
  • Athletic courts remain closed, and the hoops that were removed from basketball courts will not be reinstalled until further notice.
  • Spraygrounds that can restrict to 25 people and enforce physical distancing will open on July 6 as part of the City’s summer programming.
  • These businesses remain closed: indoor recreation; health and wellness facilities; personal care services such as gyms, spas, hair salons, nail salons, and massage therapy providers; and entertainment such as casinos and theaters.
  • Walk-up ordering at restaurants and mobile food vendors, including food trucks, is permitted. These establishments cannot allow lines of more than 10 customers.
  • Outdoor dining can resume on June 12 for businesses that are currently licensed for it, within their existing footprint. Specific guidance on this, as well as an application process for businesses not currently licensed for outdoor dining, are being developed.
  • Dine-in service at restaurants remain prohibited.

Says the city RE: recreation –

“Playgrounds will reopen for summer camp and individual family activities for children only—not group recreational activities. Parks & Recreation’s parks, athletic fields, and trails remain open.”

For context here, the rec centers have been chained off for three months and the basketball hoops were physically unscrewed from the backboards. Meantime, you’ve got thousands of folks protesting and gathering in the wake of George Floyd’s death, with that one group dragging a hoop through the city to help ease tensions. I understand the wonky circumstances, but it’s the juxtaposition of the whole thing that looks ridiculous from afar. We’ve got massive crowds of people in the streets but we remain banned from getting up a few fucking jump shots at Cione Playground.

And a lot of this is wishful thinking, honest to God.  You can’t hold these restrictions over people through the summer months because they’re already itchy and they see the surrounding counties and states getting on with life. They see guidelines being completely ignored during these protests and demonstrations, which negatively influences their adherence to the rules.

Gotta start moving this forward.