Pennsylvania restaurants will be allowed to seat more patrons inside after Gov. Tom Wolf announced Tuesday he is relaxing restrictions on indoor dining.

Restaurants may increase indoor occupancy from 25% to 50% of capacity starting Sept. 21, more than two months after the administration first reimposed pandemic restrictions on the state's beleaguered hospitality industry in response to a spike in virus infections.

“The move to 25% ... was an attempt to flatten the curve in Pennsylvania. We were starting to see a troubling rise,” Wolf said at a news conference in Lancaster. “Now I think we're at a point where we are ready to lift that, partially.”

Bar and restaurant owners have said they were unfairly blamed for rising virus case numbers, challenging the Wolf administration to provide evidence. At a House hearing last month, industry officials warned that thousands of establishments were in danger of closing permanently without relief from the state.

Joe Savage, owner of Monte Cello's in Cranberry Township, said he thinks the state should have gone after individual restaurants who violated pandemic guidelines and kept compliant restaurants at half-capacity, rather than moving all establishments to 25% seating.

“Places that won't abide by the rules will maybe shut back down again, and I think that's the way it should have been originally,” he said.

Establishments that want to increase capacity must certify to the state that they are complying with all public health guidelines. Those restaurants will then appear in a searchable state database called “Open & Certified Pennsylvania,” the administration said.

Other restrictions on the hospitality industry will still apply. Restaurants must stop selling alcohol at 10 p.m., and bars that don't offer meal service will remain shut down.

“I think we're in a position to recognize the hardship that this has caused the restaurants and at the same time continue to do what we can do to keep people safe,” Wolf, a Democrat, said Monday.

Republican leaders in the House said bars and restaurants suffered a “lost summer” because of Wolf's capacity restrictions.

“The governor's announcement today is a step in the right direction, but opening restaurants to 50 percent is merely a break-even point for many of these small businesses and the order puts a number of restrictions on these establishments' ability to do business,” House GOP spokesman Jason Gottesman said in an email.

Bob McCafferty, owner of Harmony Inn and North Country Brewing Co., said other entities — such as schools — have been able to continue, and believed restaurants shouldn't be held to different standards. “Obviously, it's better than 25%, but we still have 100% of the bills,” he said. “With distancing, I feel restaurants could be open 100%. We're heading into the winter now — 50% just doesn't cut it. Ultimately, restaurants are going to continue to close.”

Savage said he wasn't sure how much the restriction lifting would affect his business. He said he's seen people order takeout instead of dining in because they assume the restaurants will already be at maximum capacity.

“It's been going on so long, our business has built back up pretty good. I'm going to say that (the lifted restriction will improve business by), maximum, 10%,” he said. “Even at 50%, people don't go out to eat because they figure you're going to be maxed out anyway.”

Still, Savage said, he's glad the governor adjusted the rule. “It's about time,” he said.

COVID update

One new confirmed case of COVID-19 was added to Butler County's rolls from Monday's data, another decrease in daily confirmed cases since 32 cases were added Friday.

That case now brings the county's confirmed case total to 800, with 20 “probable” cases. Butler County's death toll remains at 19. Those data are current as of noon Tuesday.

The state added 475 new cases Monday, bringing its total to 136,345 confirmed cases and 4,014 probable cases. In Pennsylvania, 7,791 deaths have been attributed to COVID-19.

Much like in Butler County, surrounding areas continue to see a decline in new cases. Allegheny County recorded 36 new COVID-19 cases Monday, its lowest number since Aug. 25. Armstrong County saw one additional case, and Beaver recorded only four.

Across the United States, more than 26,000 new cases were recorded, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bringing the nation's total to 6.28 million. An additional 175 deaths were added to the total, bringing the sum to 188,688 COVID-19-attributed deaths.

Following is a breakdown of surrounding counties since the pandemic began:

- Allegheny: 10,479 confirmed; 368 probable; 154,206 negative; 327 deaths

- Armstrong: 350 confirmed; 3 probable; 5,717 negative; 12 deaths

- Beaver: 1,667 confirmed; 47 probable; 17,450 negative; 102 deaths

- Clarion: 91 confirmed; 11 probable; 2,780 negative; 3 deaths

- Lawrence: 414 confirmed; 60 probable; 6,901 negative; 21 deaths

- Mercer: 534 confirmed; 73 probable; 10,363 negative; 13 deaths

- Venango: 57 confirmed; 17 probable; 4,185 negative; 1 death

- Westmoreland: 1,841 confirmed; 66 probable; 38,677 negative; 49 deaths.

Eagle staff writers Alex J. Weidenhof and Seb Foltz contributed to this report.