Schuylkill County finally entered the yellow phase on Friday.

The change comes a few weeks after the county attempted defy Gov. Tom Wolf’s order to remain red.

“The most important thing about going to yellow is that we are one step closer to green,” said State Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Carbon/Schuylkill. “It means a lot to the downtown businesses of Tamaqua like Charles X Block, because they can now open. It now allows you to congregate in groups of 25 or less, but you have to social distance and all of that - and it also opens child day care centers. We are getting closer to getting back to normal life.”

Charles X Block, located on W. Broad St. Tamaqua, turns 98 this summer and will be ready to rock ‘n’ roll this weekend.

“We had the building completely cleaned this week by my seamstress,” said Ralph Richards, owner of Charles X Block.

“We are going in tomorrow to set up all of the protocol; you come in and hand-wash - from there you come to the register. If they didn’t hand-wash there, there will be a second station at the register. If they don’t have a mask, we’ll issue them a mask in terms as part of their sale.”

Richards said, “We’re going to social distance by sizing people in various rooms. If we ever have the pleasure of having four people that need to be sized at the same time, we will effectively socially distance with no problem.”

Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon, Lebanon, Luzerne, Monroe and Pike will join Schuylkill as the eight counties that entered yellow on Friday. Starting June 5, all restaurants in yellow will be able to seat patrons outside to dine-in, while following more social distancing guidelines.

With the announcement of Schuylkill County officially in yellow, the Tamaqua Area High School has set its graduation date to June 26.

“I’m glad things are progressing and cases of COVID-19 are decreasing to the point where responsible social interaction can occur,” said Tamaqua Superintendent Ray Kinder. “I hope we will all continue to be conscious of the mitigation factors, so that we can move swiftly into the green phase.”