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Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf explains why bars, restaurants are focus of targeted coronavirus mitigation efforts
Pennlive ^ | 21 July A.D. 2020 | Greg Pickel

Posted on 07/21/2020 1:56:23 PM PDT by lightman

Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday that the state has evidence indicating a recent rise in the number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases in Pa. can, at least in part, be traced back to places people are drinking alcohol.

It’s part of the reason why Wolf, in conjunction with Health Department Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, ordered all bars that cannot serve a meal to close while also mandating that alcohol can only be consumed on a business’ premise if it is sold within a meal transaction.

A meal is defined by the state’s Liquor Control Board as food that is prepared and constitutes breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The prepared part means a bag of chips, pretzels, or peanuts is not OK, but a $1 hot dog is.

Wolf acknowledged during a news conference that also thanked frontline workers at York’s WellSpan hospital that loopholes will always be found, like a cheap hot dog or a single slice of pizza, but added that the measures that went into effect almost a week ago are aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 on the same day the state reported over 1,000 new cases for the third time this month.

“I mean, are there loopholes and ways to do an end-run around any piece of legislation or any policy? Absolutely,” Wolf said. “The key is, we just have to keep coming back to the point that everybody here [at the news conference made] and that is, do you want your family members, your co-workers, your friends, your neighbors, to end up [at the hospital]? If you don’t, then let’s try to do the things that; is it a frustrating thing to go through if you’re a restaurant? Absolutely. Or a bar owner? Absolutely. The problem is, isn’t it more frustrating to go through what the bar owners and restaurant owners are going through in Florida, where people are just not going to come to the bar?

“They’re not showing up anyway, and that’s going to happen here if we don’t do something dramatic.”

In signing the new order last week, Wolf also closed nightclubs and music clubs while reducing indoor dining to 25 percent capacity. Additionally, outdoor gatherings were limited to 250 people, and all bar service, inside or outside, must be stopped. One important note, however, is that a wedding venue is allowed to serve customers at a bar only if they then go to a seat where a meal will be served.

Wolf was also asked about the idea of providing specific examples of contact tracing that has tied a sizable number of new confirmed coronavirus cases to bars and restaurants. He said that the state does have that information but is not releasing it on a bar-by-bar basis, pointing to reports out of South Korea back in March that said the country’s decision to provide voluminous and specific information about confirmed coronavirus cases led to some people who were infected to experience what the BBC said was online ridicule and judgment.

“Dr. Levine said every region of the [state], not every county but the majority of the counties, in every region of the state has seen an uptick in cases, and when I say focus, what we focused on is we know that those are coming from places where people are coming together and in close contact where they’re drinking. That’s bars. And so, the order, I think, has really addressed that in a targeted way.

“We can’t tell you, I mean, that has been done, where a bar has been identified, and that has created all kinds of problems. I think that was South Korea did that. We don’t want to do that. We think that’s inappropriate. We have the data, we know this is where the problem is. Are we going to tell you exactly which bars? No, we’re not going to do that.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: bars; levine; lockdown; openpa; paping; proof; tomwolf; wolf
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To: NFHale

Have a nice day, I’m sure we will be sent to the gulag soon.


41 posted on 07/21/2020 3:53:36 PM PDT by ScholarWarrior
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To: ScholarWarrior

RE Gulag:

I am disinclined to acquiesce to that particular invitation... in a most, disagreeable manner... for them.


42 posted on 07/21/2020 3:58:10 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: Vendome
Every year I know of people getting the flu and who has it in my office.

I know exactly ZERO people who have this or had it.

That just proves that masks and lockdowns WORK!!! </sarcasm>

43 posted on 07/21/2020 4:00:56 PM PDT by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell)
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To: Flavious_Maximus

Remember The Pinto!


44 posted on 07/21/2020 4:04:04 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: NFHale

That was Solzhenitsyn’s suggestion, and I would agree. I am very wary of a national police force.


45 posted on 07/21/2020 4:32:18 PM PDT by ScholarWarrior
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To: ScholarWarrior

RE Solzhenitsyn:

“How we burned in the camps...”

Indeed.

No quarter.


46 posted on 07/21/2020 4:37:13 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: usconservative

And if the “virus is spreading”, who gives a damn?

Viruses spread. It’s what they do, and have done since the beginning of time.

I don’t remember a sizable chunk of the population losing their minds over it in the past, such as the 2009 or 2017 “epidemics”.

You don’t think the fact that there’s an election this year is a factor, do you? Naah, couldn’t be.


47 posted on 07/21/2020 4:48:28 PM PDT by NorthWoody (A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. - Theodore Roosevelt)
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To: NFHale

Everyone is “just really sick” of all this. But not literally.

That’s what they want, people to get so tired of all this that they elect senile old Joe to run things.

The people orchestrating this 24/7 charade have to be getting damn tired of it themselves.

I hate to wish the summer away, but November 4 can’t come soon enough.


48 posted on 07/21/2020 4:53:29 PM PDT by NorthWoody (A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. - Theodore Roosevelt)
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To: NorthWoody

It’s becoming obvious the mask mandate will last until November 4th and end not a day sooner.


49 posted on 07/21/2020 4:55:36 PM PDT by lodi90
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To: lightman

Have you seen tissue samples from both of them under a microscope, and had those and all medical records reviewed by at least two unbiased MDs from different parts of the country?

If not I wouldn’t believe they died of covid for one second.


50 posted on 07/21/2020 4:58:25 PM PDT by NorthWoody (A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. - Theodore Roosevelt)
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To: NorthWoody

“...November 4 can’t come soon enough....”

I hear you, friend... I hear you.


51 posted on 07/21/2020 5:03:03 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: oldbugleboy

“-—You need a properly certified and licensed kitchen
in order to legally sell food. The minimal cost of
such a kitchen is in the $40,000 to $50,000 range!!”

Well, so much for the concept of freedom. Here I am at home eating out of my air fryer most days, and wow, I’m still alive to talk about it. Another day, another idea shot down by the PC bureaucrats.


52 posted on 07/21/2020 5:46:09 PM PDT by flaglady47 (Donald Trump, President for Life (heh, heh))
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To: Vendome
Every year I know of people getting the flu and who has it in my office. I know exactly ZERO people who have this or had it.

Yup. I'm in a "hard-hit outbreak area" (Dallas), and that crazy outbreak is ~40M people. Since March. Out of 2.6MM+, only 1.5% of the population testing positive, over a period of four-plus months..

I know two guys in my Guard unit who were 'exposed' and did the two-week self-quarantine, and I have a cousin-in-law who tested positive a month ago, but he lives in Waco. Was at the kiddo's birthday party a couple days before he tested positive, and somehow no one else has shown any symptoms. So still not sure he even actually had it. Likely one of the false/fake positives, or a common-cold positive.

Other than that, I know plenty of people still locking themselves away, hiding in their houses, yet no one has gotten anything.
53 posted on 07/21/2020 6:05:12 PM PDT by Svartalfiar
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To: lightman

Focus of Tom Wolf’s targeted mitigation same as all Democrats....Most small businesses such as bars, restaurants etc are Republican owned


54 posted on 07/22/2020 12:19:29 PM PDT by apoliticalone (SOCIAL JUSTICE is as much about justice as PATRIOT ACT is about patriotism.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

The last speaker was the future Governor of Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano.


55 posted on 07/22/2020 12:23:17 PM PDT by macrahanish #1
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