Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf renews the COVID-19 disaster declaration for another 90 days

For the second time since the first two presumptive positive cases of the coronavirus appeared in Pennsylvania on March 6, Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday renewed the state’s disaster declaration for the pandemic for another 90 days.

“As we approach the six-month mark of this crisis, I continue to be amazed at the resiliency and strength shown by Pennsylvanians during this pandemic,” Wolf said in a statement. “We are going to continue to combat the health and economic effects of COVID-19, and the renewal of my disaster declaration will provide us with resources and support needed for this effort.”

This comes at a time when the House returns to voting session and a renewed effort is afoot in the chamber to try to thwart the governor’s emergency powers by overriding Wolf’s veto of a bill that would allow the Legislature to force the governor to end the disaster declaration.

The governor’s extension of the disaster declaration drew a harsh response from House GOP spokesman Jason Gottesman particularly in light of the governor’s plea on Tuesday to the Legislature to quickly pass legislation to protect Pennsylvanians from eviction from their homes now that his eviction moratorium has expired.

“Governor Wolf has ignored the law and acted by fiat for the last six months. It is curious now that he is searching for the limits of his authority as an excuse to pass the buck to the General Assembly over the crisis he created for both property owners and renters,” Gottesman said in a statement.

“Instead of telling the General Assembly how to do its job and what bills to pass, Governor Wolf should instead work with us to reopen Pennsylvania’s economy, get those struggling to pay their bills back to work safely, and restore some sense of normalcy to the people of the Commonwealth.”

The emergency disaster declaration provides for the continuation of increased support to state agencies involved in the response to the virus and recovery for the state during reopening. This includes expediting supply procurement, lifting certain regulations to allow for efficient and effective mitigation, and waiving certain rules..

Among the relief that this declaration provides includes waiving the one-week waiting period to receive unemployment compensation, work search requirements, and registering with PA CareerLink for applicants. It also suspends numerous training requirements and certification and licensure renewals for health care professionals, child care workers, direct care workers, direct support professionals, among others who provide services to our children, seniors, and vulnerable residents.

It further allows the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency to assign the National Guard to provide various types of support for long-term care facilities, including providing direct patient care support, ancillary support, and testing, and at community-based testing sites. It also provides PEMA with the ability to leverage continued federal support such as non-congregate sheltering.

The renewed disaster declaration will also allow PEMA to rapidly scale response efforts and employ new intervention tactics, such as the administration of a vaccine.

Meanwhile, the percentage of positive coronavirus tests continues to drop across Pennsylvania for the fifth straight week, but the Wolf Administration reported on Monday that nine counties bear watching for COVID-19 infections. Those counties and their positivity rates are: Columbia (13.5%), Armstrong (8.3%), Perry (6.9%), Northumberland (6.7%), Potter (5.9%), Beaver (5.7%), Dauphin (5.3%), Fulton (5.3%) and York (5.0%).

The number of new cases has dropped steadily in the month of August after climbing in late June and throughout July. The state hasn’t reported more than 1,000 new cases in a single day since July 28.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 521 new coronavirus cases on Monday. Statewide, more than 134,000 people have contracted the virus and more than 7,600 people have died.

The truth is they do have a recourse but they are actively avoiding using it so they can demonize Wolfe.

In some ways I agree, but I mostly disagree because I don't believe the PA government (much like the DC government) is operating on a basis of law anymore. It's all politics and right now, the Wolf administration is holding all the cards because the PA GOP has spent much of the past four years sitting on their hands so that Trump supporters don't gain control of the state party.

The best hope for the state is for business owners in dem districts to band together and put pressure on their state legislators to override the emergency declaration. Failing that, the republican led legislators should refuse to pass any legislation during an emergency. If this emergency is so great that it has to extend into a seventh month, it's too much of an emergency to tie up the government with legalized weed legislation.

A couple of points here ... This morning I had an appointment and I decided to take the long way to get there. I was interested in two things. 1.) See how many businesses were out of business, and 2.) See how much visible support there is for Biden.

I traveled through Alison Hill and downtown Harrisburg on my way. I also hit an area east of Harrisburg. However, my travels did not go deep into the West Shore where my appointment was.

I am glad to report ZERO Biden signs, particularly in Harrisburg and on the Hill - that would be Rat country in all it's glory. Alison Hill looks about as bad as any ghetto these days. These people live in filth and don't even pick up after themselves. Definitely the Democrat base.

I am not so glad to report that about 20% of businesses have closed. This includes a number of restaurants and a diner. Anecdotally, my daughter told me last night that her favorite watering hole is shutting down. They have been forced to only serve outside and they had too little sidewalk to have enough tables to make it work.

The point of me writing all of this is to beat on the RINO state legislature. The damage has already been done to businesses, and it will continue. There are real lives and livelihoods at stake. My daughter is friends with the bartender at the bar she frequents. The bartender is now out of a job, as well as others. It was a last minute thing too, no notice, which is a shame. I am sure the business owner wanted to keep his business open and did so for along as he could. But he had to make a decision, he did. Now his business is gone and a bunch of people are out of work. These are young people too. There isn't a ChiCom flu problem. This has a ripple effect because bills, rent and mortgages cannot be paid.

This asshole governor and his dickless health secretary have ruined peoples' lives and murdered people in nursing homes all because they do not want to see Trump reelected. I so want them to burn in hell.

I'm pretty sure it most people are feeling the same way and this is totally backfiring on their plan to elect Biden. Zero Biden signs in the heart of Dauphin County (one of the six or seven counties Hillary won in '16). Once you get out of Harrisburg City proper, there are Trump signs, some rather large, and Trump flags. There are also plenty of people proudly flying Old Glory. That once normal occurrence seems like a blatant protest these days. This isn't a bit like '16 when Hillary had her crap all over the place.

But back to the legislature ... if they really want to help business recover in PA they should cut regulations, slash government spending, and have a massive tax cut. I'm in the middle of starting a business and if all goes well, I hope to hire employees in 18 to 24 months. It won't be in PA as the current business environment exists. Any business, including s-corps and single-entity LLCs, get hit with the 9.99% business tax in PA. I'm running things as a sole proprietor until it gets complicated with having employees and need to change the form of business. But I won't take a nearly 10% tax hike in the process. In fact, I will move to another state (been researching) where business taxes are more sane and individual taxes are lower than in PA.

PA is not a business friendly state. Now that the Governor and the Tranny (New sitcom on ABC this fall) have destroyed businesses what is there to stop them in the future? The next flu bug that comes by requires shutting down your business. I take known risks with known outcomes when running a business. This is a risk that I can mitigate by leaving PA.

So sorry Gov, you ain't getting my tax dollars no more and you ain't getting taxes from my future employees. I'm giving the big FU to you and the rest of PA.

These eff'n RINOs have held both chambers of the legislature and the governor's office in the past. They had their chance to fix things and they did basically nothing. They can talk all they want about getting the economy going but they are nothing more than uni-party failures. They are timid, weak, indecisive, unprincipled and cowardly men. They are pathetic pieces of schiff. They can burn in hell too.

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