Before residents cheer the expiration of Petersburg's face masking mandate, they need to remember that the reopening of many local businesses rely on the use of face masks by both employees and patrons according to state health mandate #16.

According to the Borough's Incident Commander Karl Hagerman, "There is very, very strong language in the state's reopening plan regarding face coverings. The Emergency Operations Center will continue to emphasize face coverings as being an important factor in mitigating the spread of the virus."

The reopening of non-essential businesses is heavily depend...