Posted on 05/09/2020 7:15:58 AM PDT by EyesOfTX
Wow. Big, big news today coming out of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. There, the County Board Chairman, Jeff Haste, issued an open letter to the people of the state that he was making the decision to re-open his county in defiance of Democrat Governor Tom Wolfe’s absurd, illogical order extending statewide lockdowns through June 5.
Several things to note here: Dauphin County is home to Harrisburg, the state’s capital city. It is not some rural backwater, but a robust county with roughly 280,000 residents. Haste himself appears to be a Republican, although his bio page does not list a party affiliation. In his letter, Haste carefully lays out a wealth of factual information that Gov. Wolfe would rather the public not know about.
VDO.AI Here is the text of that letter in its entirety:
May 8, 2020
To the People of Pennsylvania:
Enough is enough. It is time to reopen the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and return our state to the people (as prescribed by our Constitution) and not run it as a dictatorship.
When COVID-19 first entered our state, we needed to take quick and decisive action to minimize its impact. The state was closed so that we could flatten the curve and ensure that our health care systems and hospitals were able to function within their resources. Pennsylvanians complied.
COVID-19 was an unknown foe. We had a lot to learn and have since gained a better understanding. Make no mistake, to those with impaired immune systems, certain medical conditions and the elderly, COVID-19 is dangerous and can be deadly. Now our citizens understand what is needed to protect themselves and others. We see how to implement these procedures as we go to the grocery store or big box stores. Our smaller businesses, restaurants, realtors, dentists, doctors and more have seen and learned what needs to be done. Data shows that COVID-19 is a critical issue in confined living areas and with our elderly and immunity-impaired populations. The general population can continue to work and function within the “new normal.” Our businesses and citizens have learned this; however, the governor and his health secretary have not, thus part of the reason for the Wall Street Journal giving our governor a failing grade.
In Dauphin County, our health care systems and hospitals sprang into action and prepared for the worst. Overall, the worst did not come. Some of our facilities had more than 40% of their beds empty, not performing routine procedures. As of this writing, 48% of our 141 ventilators are in use; six (4%) are in use for COVID-19-related cases; 62 (44%) for non-COVID-19 cases; and 73 (52%) are not in use. Clearly, our ventilators are not maxed out.
Let’s put some of the numbers in perspective, since Gov. Wolf and Health Secretary Levine say decisions will be “data-driven.” As of this writing, Pennsylvania has a total of 54,238 cases, or 0.4% of the state’s population. Dauphin County has 764 cases, or 0.274% of our population. Pennsylvania has 3,616 deaths, or 0.028% of the population. Dauphin County has 29 deaths, or 0.0105% of our county’s population.
Here in Dauphin County, 192 (25%) of the 764 cases are in nursing homes, while 24 (65%) of our coronavirus deaths are in nursing homes. If you remove the nursing home cases from the equation, 0.2% of the county’s general population has tested positive. Not 20%, not 2%, but 0.2%.
Since Gov. Wolf closed the state to minimize the 54,238 positive cases, more than 1,793,200 Pennsylvanians have lost their jobs. This decision has ruined the livelihood of millions of hard-working Pennsylvanians in exchange for 0.4% of our population. I have great sympathy for those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. I also have great concern for the families that now have to struggle with financial concerns, mental health stress, addiction and more because of the shutdown. Again, our governor has pitted groups of Pennsylvanians against one another.
And he has not included county commissioners in this process.
This need not happen — enough is enough. We should focus our efforts on making sure our nursing homes have the supplies, staff, testing and whatever else they need to protect their residents and staff. Our health care systems and hospitals have shown they can handle the pressures of COVID-19 and have capacity to spare.
Allow our businesses and communities to reopen. For centuries, our people and businesses have shown they can adapt to changes to survive and prosper. They cannot, however, do a thing when a dictator and an unelected secretary place them in lockdown.
I trust and have faith in the great people and businesses of Pennsylvania to operate in a manner that protects those of our population in harm’s way and allows our residents to go back to work, enjoy their communities and have a quality of life. I, however, have no faith in Gov. Wolf and Secretary Levine’s ability to do the right thing.
Open the state and return our Commonwealth to the people.
Enough is enough.
Sincerely,
Jeff Haste Chairman Dauphin County Board of Commissioners
[End]
It’s important to note that officials in Lebanon County, PA issued a notice similar to Haste’s, saying they will begin to reopen their county on May 15. In addition, sheriffs in Cumberland and Perry Counties posted notices on Facebook stating that they will make no effort to enforce the Governor’s ongoing orders.
Folks, this kind of action is going to continue to grow all over the country the longer these despotic Democrat governors try to extend the pain being inflicted on their citizens for crass, partisan political reasons. These shutdown orders are patently unconstitutional and simply unprecedented in any medical crisis in our nation’s history. As Mr. Haste points out, we now know that what we really had with this virus was mainly a threat to our senior citizens, and the best approach to containing it would have been to focus quarantine and other protective measures on people above the age of 65 and the nation’s nursing and retirement communities.
What we did instead was an act of national insanity.
So long as all we had to go on was a catastrophically inaccurate statistical model and the pronouncements of Drs. Fauci and Birx, the general public was willing to go along with this abuse in the name of saving lives. But, as more and more information comes to light demonstrating how wrong and counterproductive these statewide, thoughtless stay-at-home and economic shutdown orders have been, more and more freedom-loving Americans are reaching the point that Mr. Haste has obviously reached and telling their abusive governors, mayors and county judges that enough is enough.
I wrote on Wednesday that Shelley Luther was just the canary in these governors’ coal mines. Last night’s action by Chairman Haste shows the fire in that mine has been lit and is beginning to spread. If these Democrats do not relent soon on this obviously coordinated strategy to needlessly drag this pain out in an attempt to impact the November elections, they will end up paying dearly for it at the polls.
If they do not relent and continue to become more and more abusive in their enforcement efforts, the outcome could ultimately be much, much worse than that.
Enough is indeed enough. Stop this madness.
That is all.
The more the folks rebel against the totalitarian control, the more they vote for Trump.
In WA what the virus hasn’t killed, Gov. Inslee has finished the state. Jobs gone, families in disarray, houses will be foreclosed on, etc.
Attn: POTUS, Donald J, Trump...yes we got us a few states that ain’t too bright...Pennsylvania is one of them, as is Illinois, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington...and, a few more “Not-Too-Bright-Bulbs, better known as Democrat Scum & Vermin!!!
However the one on life support and dying economically, New York State needs your personal help. I am not talking about giving the two idiots of New York State, Democrat, Governor, Andrew Cuomo & NYC Mayo Bill De Blasio a Red cent of Federal government money...for they are killing NY State Economically. By making the NYC Subway system “HOME SWEET HOME” for the Dreg Homeless folks, there is not a sane New Yorker or sane tourist that will ride the subway system with these unfortunate present!!!
Broadway dies, China town Dies, Little Italy dies, Midtown Restaurants and hotels dies....Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx, Manhattan, Newark, Hoboken, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, dies!!!
Look...there is not an operating brain among both these incompetent low lifes, Coumo or De Blasio. Both are full blown morons. Do something about it right now...or Florida, Texas, etc. will gain tons of new capable, willing and ready to work ex-New Yorkers.....Wise Up...like today!!!
Trumpie...turn New York on...you can do it!!!
They are Republicans. Some like Perry County have an excellent case. Dauphin county contains Harrisburg, which Trump has correctly described as looking like a war zone. That said, Harrisburg’s mass transit has been a darned sight more proactive that New York’s has and as a result has been a non-story for a month. Still, if you walk the streets in PA you will find them empty, like the air-raid siren has gone off. Harrisburg could change quickly.
It’s hard for me to even get my head around the idea of opening or closing a state. The power hungry are deliriously happy. Success beyond their widest dreams.
Wrap your head around Andy Beshear (D)in KY who banned people from leaving the state.
Yeah...that went down in flames constitutionally.
I live in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. We do not need the further restrictions on the healthy.
Let’s protect the vulnerable and allow the healthy to go back to work.
End of story.
Great inspiration!
What I’d love to see is Pennsylvania businesses taking advantage of outdoor spaces where they are workable and many open windows where they are not. Might even be good for staving off the 2:00 p.m. crash and the associated drop in productivity as well as saving on energy costs. Would it help to say pretty please?
It seems they’ve sized up Wolf as a wimp and a eunuch. When push comes to shove he won’t have the stomach for a Kent State moment to enforce his edict.
The despots in Romania and Egypt (Ceausescu and Morsi) had a rush like this too but contemplate what happened to both of them when the people had it. Where are they now?
Lebanon County commissioners announced yesterday they will reopen next Friday.
Last night, Dauphin County said they will follow Lebanon's lead and reopen.
Cumberland and Perry county Sheriffs announced yesterday that they will not enforce the governor's shutdown orders.
Last night, York County District Attorney Dave Sunday announced that his office “will not prosecute any criminal citations for alleged violations of the [Governor and Secretary’s] orders and regulations … concerning the operation of non-life-sustaining businesses.”
York and Adams counties also sent letters to the governor.
Cumberland, Perry, York, Adams, Dauphin and Lebanon counties are next to each other and form one of the largest strong holds of Trump supporters in the state.
People of PA voted for this creep. Either admit you blew it and boot the guy out, ignore him or shut up.
I live in Berks County and I concur...
I have no problem with the initial 2 week shut down as we did not know what we were dealing with.
It gave every indication of being as bad as it was suspected of being and we did need to take care to not overwhelm the healthcare system.
Since, then however, it has become blindingly clear that this situation has been taken advantage of to rob us of our liberties and freedom. THAT is unacceptable.
Yes, precautions still need to be taken because a lot is still not known, and it really is the only way to prevent a serious outbreak.
But with people being careful about hygiene and many working from home who can, we can keep this thing under control without forfeiting our rights as citizens of this country.
NY needs to sink.
Why should Trump do anything to bail NY out?
Let them pay the price for their decisions at the ballot box.
Bump
Let everyone who is healthy go back to living their lives
No forced confinement of any healthy citizen
Take care of the people who get sick
preferably by early therapeutics and 14 days at home
Not waiting 5-7 days and then hospitalizing them
Well I didn’t vote for Wolf....and others didn’t. Unfortunately Philadelphia and Pittsburgh , our main cities, are demorat strongholds. Rural Pa. is mostly Pro-Trump.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.