Free Republic

Pennsylvania restaurant owners have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and were hoping to see restrictions relaxed on their businesses. An effort in the General Assembly failed again Tuesday, albeit just barely. The state House of Representatives fell short in a bid to override Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto of a bill that would have eased rules on restaurants. The effort needed two-thirds of the House and fell short by two votes. John Longstreet, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, said the defeat of the bill (HB 2513) was a blow for the industry. “The failure...

The number of coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 8 million on Friday as health officials from coast to coast scramble to contain the rising rate of infections. The case numbers are steadily increasing daily, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The country has averaged more than 53,000 new daily cases for the past week -- an increase of more than 55% in just over a month -- and Friday's caseload was not the exception, according to Johns Hopkins data. Unlike previous rises, this time it appears that no region is safe. The Northeast, which has remained relatively...

In a recent op-ed, Steve Pandelidis advocated for the so-called “herd immunity” approach to the coronavirus pandemic. His piece was very poorly timed as he cited Sweden as a success story. He should know that Sweden followed his “herd immunity” approach and had the most COVID-19 deaths per capita in Europe last week. He should also know that Sweden's case fatality rate is far higher than most other countries. Dr. Pandelidis is not an expert on viruses or pandemics. So it’s alarming that he is so blasé in his article advocating for herd immunity. Experts around the globe agree that...

Memorial Day Weekend Corona Virus Thread

It’s deeply disappointing and downright dangerous that some members of York County political and business leadership, including some paid by the very taxpayers that they should be protecting, are essentially encouraging York County business owners to defy the governor’s orders and open. This irresponsible defiance by some of our leaders puts business owners, their clients, their customers and the entire York community at risk of further spread of COVID-19, a deadly virus that has already killed 13 of our neighbors and sickened more than 700 York countians in recent months. This is a time when leaders must have the courage...

Gov. Jay Inslee's office on Wednesday announced that the state will be returning a field hospital deployed to CenturyLink Field Event Center to the U.S. Department of Defense. The 250-bed facility, for which setup began on March 30, was intended to help Washington state's health care system tend to non Covid-19 patients in the event of a hospital surge. But just three days after announcing the facility was ready to receive patients, officials say they're returning the hospital to the federal government. The action is aimed at helping another state with a more significant need for hospital capacity at this...