Businesses around Western Pennsylvania have shut their doors, heeding pleas from public health officials and elected leaders from mayors to governors to the president to limit contact between people to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Gov. Tom Wolf this week asked that all nonessential businesses close. Many have.

But those that haven’t raise questions of what is essential and who has the authority to close down businesses.

“We have police cars and ambulances, and if people need to get to the hospital and have flat tires, we need to be able to fix the tires so they can get to the hospital,” said Brad Bonnett, president of Highland Tire, which has decided to keep its Harrison and Tarentum locations open.

Enforcement?

The U.S. Constitution and federal law delegate much of the work of responding to public health crises to local governments and officials on the front lines, said Keith Whittington, constitutional law professor at Princeton University.

States and municipalities have the power to make and enforce any regulations deemed necessary to protect public safety during states of emergency.

“And that’s pretty wide-ranging,” Whittington said. “In these kind of emergency situations, they can do quite drastic things. They can order normally lawful operators to close completely.”

Enforcement actions can span warnings and fines to arrests and mandatory evacuations. Officials typically prefer voluntary compliance, Whittington said.

“We know we’re not going to go out and round people up if they’re staying open and put them in jail — we’re trying to go the other direction,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said Wednesday. “We’re hopeful that people on their own will follow the … directives that the state has put out there.”

Pennsylvania’s emergency management law gives Wolf broad powers, including controlling people’s movements and occupancy during a disaster.

Wolf said he will leave it up to local law enforcement and municipal officials to decide whether to enforce nonessential business closures. He said he does not intend to send out the National Guard or state police to do so.

Philadelphia already has begun sending out inspectors to respond to reports of violations and issued more local clarity in defining exemptions. In Pittsburgh, public safety officials are “monitoring the situation and will act accordingly,” spokesman Chris Togneri said.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board said it will cite establishments serving alcohol for on-site consumption, including retail stores, restaurants and social clubs, and that doing so could lead to the revocation of liquor licenses.

Essential?

Pennsylvania Libations, however, stayed open. The store in Pittsburgh’s Strip District sells liquor made by 18 local distilleries and considers itself able to sell its products in the same way that wineries are offering to-go bottles and breweries are selling to-go growlers.

Owner Christian Simmons said he laid off 10 employees on Monday, leaving only himself and one other on staff.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in a long time,” he said. “I just want to make sure that I have a company left.”

He’d like to take online orders and do home delivery.

Murphy’s Music in Leechburg is “open … -ish,” according to a sign posted in the shop’s window. The store is offering curbside service to anyone who needs to pickup an instrument being repair or needs supplies to keep playing.

“We’re closed to the public. We see the wisdom in that,” said Eric Yajko, general manager of the store.

At the Waterworks shopping center along Freeport Road near Aspinwall, Marshalls and TJ Maxx were closed Wednesday. Nobody could buy sneakers at Famous Footwear or shop at Bath & Body Works, both of which posted signs about temporary closures. People could still keep their eye appointments at Visionworks or buy a video game at GameStop. A representative from GameStop could not be reached. However, a recorded message on the store’s phone touts the new “Doom” game set to be released Friday.

A customer service representative for Visionworks said the decision on whether to keep the stores open was ever-changing. The company, which has more the 700 stores in 40 states, has closed some locations and kept others open.

The Giant Eagle Market District at the Waterworks was open as well.

President Trump and Wolf made clear earlier this week that grocery stores, gas stations and pharmacies nationwide will remain open throughout the outbreak.

Types of businesses specifically deemed nonessential by the Pennsylvania include bars, social clubs, barber shops, hair and nail salons, gyms, yoga and spin studios, casinos, concert venues, theaters, golf courses and other athletic and entertainment facilities.

Also nonessential are most retail facilities, including shopping malls, except for pharmacy and other health care facilities within retail centers, according to Wolf’s guidelines.

The Your CBD Store in Harrison is only taking one customer at a time by appointment only, said co-owner Patti McCloud.

“We’re being very careful with handling anything and wiping everything down,” McCloud said.

McCloud said delivery services may be available for people who live reasonably close to the store. She said many people use CBD to help with things such as anxiety and depression or pain relief.

“There are a lot of people that use it for their overall health and well-being in a lot of different ways,” McCloud said. “We want to be able to support them.”

Among businesses that Wolf and the state Department of Community and Economic Development have categorized as essential and important to stay open: farms, food processing, industrial manufacturing, construction, banks, laundromats, hotels, home and auto repair shops, storage facilities, insurance offices, vet clinics and hardware stores.

“If you think about it, you need a reliable and safe vehicle to do what you need to do,” said Baum Boulevard Automotive owner Chuck Wichrowski. “That’s what we’re there for: to make sure that car is there for you when you need it.”

The auto repair shop in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood has decided to stay open. Wichrowski said customers can drop off and pick up their cars and keys without interacting with an employee and can pay over the phone.

Employees wore professional-grade, full-faced respirators while cleaning cars at Pristine Clean Auto Detailing in Murrysville. Owner Gerard Antonucci said contact between employees and with customers is extremely limited, describing his company’s social distancing “at a height that isn’t replicated in more-traditional businesses.”

Antonucci, a 2017 Franklin Regional graduate, sees a need for his business, too.

In the wake of Gov. Tom Wolf’s urging that all nonessential businesses close down, many in the food-service industry are switching to a home-delivery business model, and even if drivers are not entering homes, they are still coming into relatively close contact with strangers.

“Given our current procedures to avoid exposure, we don’t have any issues thoroughly detailing said employer and employee vehicles,” he said.

At the Pittsburgh Mills, Lowe’s hardware store and the Walmart Supercenter had the most parked cars. Michaels was also open, although on scaled-back hours. No one from Michaels would comment on why the arts and crafts store was deemed essential.

Quarato & Quarato, a plumbing and hardware store remained open on Market Street in Leechburg. So did Peg’s Tanning salon next door. A person who answered the phone at the salon hung up when a reporter called Thursday.

Audry Skeel, a clerk at Quarato & Quarato, said pipes still burst.

“People have emergencies. They need somebody to come out there and help them,” Skeel said, adding that employees wear gloves when they are working inside people’s homes.

Staff writers Megan Guza, Madasyn Lee and Patrick Varine contributed to this report. Natasha Lindstrom and Tom Davidson are Tribune-Review staff writers.

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