Philly Coronavirus News: More Wawa Trouble, City Upgrades Risk Level, NJ Closes Beaches
Want to walk into a Philly Wawa and order a Meatball Shorti or an Italian Classic? For now, you can’t.
Big changes at some Wawa locations during the Philadelphia coronavirus crisis. (Google Maps)
A roundup of Philly coronavirus news.
Wawa Makes More Big Changes Amid Coronavirus Crisis
Last week, Wawa announced that the company had suspended self-service coffee at all of its locations. Instead of walking up to the coffee pump, dispensing your choice of coffee into your choice of cup, and then adding your creamer, sugar, etc. yourself, employees would now fulfill your coffee order.
And now today, Wawa has suspended all made-to-order food at all of its Philadelphia locations. That means you cannot walk into your favorite Philadelphia Wawa and walk out a few minutes later with a freshly-made Meatball Shorti.
This change comes just after Wawa announced that a Wawa employee at a Port Richmond Wawa had tested positive for COVID-19.
“This change in our Philadelphia stores will enable us to move people through the store faster and keeping their interactions brief, while further encouraging the practice of social distancing,” the company wrote in a statement.
You can still order made-to-order food from Wawa for delivery through apps like Grub Hub and Uber Eats. But the days of walking up to the counter and anxiously watching as they assemble your sandwich are over. For now.
Don’t worry, suburbanites: This change only affects Wawa locations in Philadelphia.
City Upgrades Coronavirus Risk Level
“I wonder when the city is going to upgrade the risk level?” a colleague of mine wondered this time last week. Though coronavirus cases in Philadelphia continued to mount, the official risk level published by the city remained at low.
Well, now that there are more than 475 confirmed Philadelphia coronavirus cases, that risk level has been upgraded to “community transmission.”
Outside of the city, one of the harder hit communities has been Lower Merion Township, where there are at least 60 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
The latest official number of cases statewide: 1,687.
Some New Jersey Beaches Close
It’s supposed to get up to 65 degrees at the Jersey Shore on Friday. Under normal circumstances, you probably wouldn’t think of taking a ride to the shore for 65 degrees. But there is nothing normal about our current circumstances.
Last week, we told you that the mayors of some Jersey Shore towns told non-residents to stay away. Now, some towns are simply closing their beaches in an effort to remove the temptation.
As of Friday morning, most of these closures applied to more northern Jersey Shore towns, but Ocean City is on the list. Like all things coronavirus, the situation continues to evolve. So before you jump in the car with your beach chair in the trunk, check to see if the beach you are headed to is actually open. Or, you know, just stay at home and do yoga to some ocean meditation app.
