93-3-WMR Audio on Demand presents the Preston and Steve show podcast.

And now, Preston and Steve's news updates with Kathy Romano.

Today is Thursday, it's July 2nd.

Good morning, Kathy.

Good morning in the news this morning.

Governor Tom Wolfe's administration moved Wednesday to expand its

indoor mask order to public places outdoors where social distancing is impossible. Since April,

Wolf's administration had a standing order that businesses must require employees and customers

to wear masks. Under the new order, a mask or face covering must be worn whenever anyone leaves

their home and where it is consistently impossible to remain six feet away, excuse me, from other people.

The sooner we can all get to the point where all 13 million Pennsylvanians recognize that when we say we wear masks,

that's one way we're going to reduce the risk of infecting other people, Wolf said, at a news conference Wednesday just before his administration announced it was expanding the mask order.

Statewide, 636 new cases surpassed 87,000 for the total, while 388 new deaths pushed the state's total

to 6,697 health officials said. Wolf's broader mask order boosts Pennsylvania into the ranks of 13

other states, according to information from the

National Governors' Association, as more states move aggressively to adopt such a requirement.

The expansion comes as Americans are dealing with surging cases of COVID-19 and confusion over

best practices in public, especially with masks.

It also comes down an alarm from officials in Philadelphia and Allegheny County

about rising numbers in their daily case reports. In a statement, Wolf said the mask wearing

order is essential to stopping the recent increase of COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania hotspots

that can be traced to situations where Pennsylvanians were not wearing masks or social distancing.

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