Delaware Valley residents hold cautious optimism as pandemic restrictions continue to ease
People dine in Manayunk
MANAYUNK - There’s a different kind of feeling in the air, a feeling that the Delaware Valley has reached a a turning point. The beginning of the end of the pandemic.
Mask mandates are being lifted, people are going back to work. Normal seems to be returning.
On a warm Wednesday night, Manayunk is hopping. Not quite pre-pandemic, but many feel with the easing of more and more COVID restrictions, including Philly dropping its outdoor mandate on Friday, the turning point is here.
"I finally feel free. Everything going back to normal. We can go out again. I don’t feel like a prisoner," stated Tapaenga Campbell.
"I don’t want to jinx it, but I do think things are changing," Morgan Barnett commented.
Barnett is home from college and is thrilled to hear Delaware will eliminate nearly all its COVID restrictions Friday, including most mask mandates and New Jersey lifting many capacity limits, although indoor masking is still required.
"I certainly hope the good news keeps coming," Barnett added.
Her father is a little more cautiously optimistic.
"I’m encouraged with the progress that’s been made, but I’m still concerned there’s far too many people who are hesitant to get vaccinated," Joel Barnett remarked.
The owner of Zesty’s on Main Street is glad to see his customers are coming back and feeling comfortable.
"I don’t think we’ll be back to 2019, but yes, it looks to me, right now, that people are out. Looks like some kind of normalcy and it is great," Athanasios Konidaris, owner of Zesty’s, explained.
Mike Troped and his wife are glad to be living life, again.
"I feel very confident. Hopefully not falsely confident. We both got vaccinated and once we got vaccinated, we felt liberated," Troped said.
Troped feels a critical juncture in the pandemic has been reached.
"All I can do is hope. Seems it, seems it. Numbers are down, way down, here," Troped added.
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