Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania speaks at a new conference at Pennsylvania Emergency Management Headquarters where he said he was ordering schools and other facilities to close in a suburban Philadelphia county, Montgomery County, that has been hard-hit by the COVID-19, Thursday, March 12, 2020 in Harrisburg, Pa.

Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the closure of “non-life-sustaining businesses,” which began at 8 p.m. Thursday, with enforcement to begin at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The order will remain in effect until further notice.

All businesses not considered life-sustaining were to close their physical locations Thursday, regardless of whether their doors are open to the public, although workers may continue to work from home. According to a list published by the Governor's Office, life-sustaining businesses include many agricultural, manufacturing, transportation and utility operations. Grocery stores, hardware stores and gas stations may continue operation.

Earlier this week, Wolf encouraged non-essential businesses to close, but in a follow-up news conference said he did not plan on enforcing that order.

“I had hoped for voluntary compliance so our public safety officials could focus on assisting with the crisis,” Wolf said in a video statement released shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday. “Unfortunately, we have not seen full compliance.

The new order was an about-face for the governor, who directed the Liquor Control Board, the Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture, state police and local officials to enforce the order through actions that may include citations, fines and license suspensions. Noncompliant businesses would also be ineligible to receive disaster relief and may be subject to “other appropriate administrative action.”

“We have no time to lose. With every minute that passes, more Pennsylvanians come in contact with the COVID-19 virus” Wolf went on to say. “The spread of COVID-19 is increasing at an exponential pace. We cannot allow this virus to overwhelm our hospitals.”

Alleviating business owners' confusion over what is considered an essential — or life-sustaining — business, Wolf re-tweeted an earlier five-page list categorizing businesses as life-sustaining or not. The link to the list can be found at on.pa.gov/2Uklc66.

Businesses permitted to remain open must follow mitigation efforts, like social distancing, encouraged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under the new order, the Department of Health is authorized to prosecute companies for failure to comply with disease control measures including quarantine and isolation.

“To protect the health and safety of all Pennsylvanians, we need to take more aggressive mitigation actions,” Wolf said. “This virus is an invisible danger that could be present everywhere. We need toactwith the strength we useagainstany other severe threat. And, we need to act now before the illness spreads more widely.”

While health care services, hospitals and nursing homes are permitted to stay open, the governor's order prohibits all elective procedures. The order also extends the governor's school closures to include all colleges and universities, as well as professional, technical, business and trade schools in the commonwealth.

The governor contends the ability to both enact and enforce such an order is granted to him under the state's Emergency Management Code. Those powers are conferred under that law when the governor issues a proclamation of disaster emergency, which Wolf did on March 6.

Secretary of Health Rachel Levine also issued an order, largely to the same effect as Wolf's, noting that the Department of Health has the authority to “take any disease control measure appropriate” to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“The Department determines that the appropriate disease control measure based upon COVID-19, the manner of its spread in the Commonwealth and in the world, and its danger to Pennsylvanians, is the closure of non-life sustaining businesses as outlined in this order to prevent and control the spread of disease,” Levine outlined in the order.