Posted on 05/10/2020 3:56:05 PM PDT by lightman
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 to protect our community. It is not a time to cite a specious “study” that’s clearly intended to sway public opinion away from the interests of health and toward the whims of large corporations that disingenuously claim they represent small business owners.
More: York County DA won’t prosecute nonessential businesses for violating shutdown order, tells police not to cite them
More: Study: 30% of York County businesses could fail in coronavirus fallout
Health comes before profit. Our small business owners know that, and they’re adhering to guidelines even though it’s painful. The York County Economic Alliance and other business proponents should not be sacrificing small business owners by encouraging them to open, just to shield and/or justify the opening of large corporations.
Conversely, the economic alliance should be directing its full energy to assisting small business owners, those who are truly vulnerable, in developing innovative solutions, including e-commerce and other creative options.
Leaders should not be slyly encouraging these vulnerable small business owners to defy the governor’s order, an act that will, among other things, result in the nullification of many small business’s insurance policies. These policies will not cover small businesses while operating illegally under an emergency order that was legally (and courageously) extended by their governor.
Leaders encouraging small businesses to defy the governor’s orders will unfortunately be leaving these businesses open to prosecution by the state. They’ll also be leaving them open to slip-and-fall lawsuits not covered by insurance that’s been cancelled due to illegal reopening. Small business owners will also be potentially vulnerable to wrongful death suits brought on by families of patrons who contract the virus.
Or are local leaders intending for these businesses defying state orders to have every customer sign a disclaimer prior to entering the store, a statement indicating that they understand they are violating state law and disregarding the urgent guidance of health experts? Maybe just a quick form that mentions they might be made gravely ill and could possibly die, and that they might make others potentially gravely ill and/or dead by violating the order? Will the disclaimer also note that each patron waives their right to sue if a box falls on their head or they trip down the front steps? Will there be a notary set up outside the store, just so it holds up in court for the two-to-four people per day who actually show up with the confidence to shop?
Studies have shown an overwhelming majority of citizens nationwide from both parties (74 percent of Republicans and 94 percent of Democrats, per The Economist) do not think we are ready to start reopening. Those citizens are united in their strong belief that stopping the spread of the virus is even more important than resuming business activity.
Is it worth incurring all of this liability, given that most people will not be shopping or otherwise visiting businesses that open before it’s safe? Most people are barely comfortable visiting the grocery store once a week at this point, let alone entering a nonessential business where the owner was cavalier enough to open against orders and against health advice.
Any patron will be thinking the obvious: A business owner who is cavalier enough to violate the governor’s order and open too soon is also likely among those who have put themselves and others at risk by failing to wear masks, failing to social distance, failing to wash hands and failing to take other safety measures.
It’s also worth adding that, by pushing to open too soon, local business and political leaders are actually delaying the restart of the economy, because reopening too early will cause even more people to become infected and die. A recent Wall Street Journal headline put the issue in stark relief: “Officials Warn of New Coronavirus Surge As States Reopen.” It’s also worth noting that York County’s number of infected citizens continues to increase every day.
Most people understand that what’s right, in this case, might not be convenient. But like Gov. Tom Wolf, they are willing to do the difficult thing because the difficult thing is the right thing to do.
We just need York County leaders to catch up to that reality and stop bowing to a vocal minority. Any antics pulled with reopening early are really just going to have the opposite effect as more people contract the virus. Most importantly (and it’s sad that this even has to be stated), we should be protecting citizens instead of putting them at risk by prioritizing the profit of York County’s largest businesses.
— Bill Swartz is a resident of Spring Garden Township.
I don’t Bill Schwartz has missed any paychecks. I don’t think his family members have, either...
Coupon clipper.
Living off of trusts.
He has taken a page from Gov Cuomos book. Cuomo started that nursing home policy as a DIRECTIVE back on March 25. He is only just today changing that after the media could now longer hide it for him. Thousands died because of that.
And then there is this, it’s just a snip:
As far back as mid-April three groups of states announced that they will collaborate as they consider cautiously restarting their economies: California, Oregon and Washington; a coalition of up to seven mostly Northeastern states; and a Midwestern alliance. (snipped from the NYT) “But they could go an important step further by establishing “interstate compacts,” a legally binding form of coordination.”
They won’t just be collaborating and coordinating within their own Compacts - but with all of those Compacts in the Northeast and the Midwest also.
There is no evidence at all that there would ever be anywhere near a million dead. New York has the worst death rate anywhere in the world now. No country, no state has a higher death per million than NY. Many locked down. Some did not. But their is no evidence at all that the math models were anywhere close. They were worse than a monkey with a dart, at predicting the number of deaths.
It is nice. The inside needs a little work but the grounds are nice.
Thank you
u-huh.
And we had at least that many motor vehicles deaths during that same time period.
Less than 300,000 deaths worldwide.... Anyone who thinks that failure to lockdown would create millions of deaths in US alone is just a little child afraid of the boogie man hiding in their closet
Wow. So, Nancy Pelosi’s Nephew, Governor Gruesome, is following Cuomo’s example of murdering vulnerable nursing home patients.
Cuomo, Murphy and Newsom should be brought up on murder charges. Of course, that day will never come.
Demonrats get away with murder. Literally.
Late on Friday night, our county prosecutor, an old school Democrat, announced that his office would not prosecute any business which chose to open early with proper precautions in place.
When I made my Chick-fil-A drive through run on Saturday, it finally was starting to look normal with cars spread through out the shopping center rather than all clustered at Wal-Mart like it was Black Friday.
Forget economics, reopening actually makes sense from the standpoint of social distancing alone.
Bill Swartz - Guaranteed he is a Rat. A man so weak that he is afraid to claim his piece of the American dream. To put it bluntly, he is a pussy. His manhood, what little he has left, should be abused until he gains some self-respect and gets a backbone. Maybe then he could become a functioning member of society. Molly coddling these wusses gets us no where.
Add Tom Wolf and his Tranny sidekick to that list of nursing home senior killing state governors.
How much you want to bet that Wolf asked Swartz to write the OP-ED?
I didn’t know he was doing it too. I shouldn’t be surprised.
Thanks for the info.
Someone sent me a pic of the Tranny Health Official. Wow, just wow. Ugly is an understatement.
The fact that Wolf appointed “It” speaks to Wolf’s incompetence .
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