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Posted on 12/10/2020 3:58:33 PM PST by lightman
With Pennsylvania’s COVID-19-related deaths hitting their highest point in the last two days since the pandemic began and the number of new cases consistently topping 10,000 each day, Gov. Tom Wolf and state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine are imploring the state’s residents to hit a three-week pause on certain activities.
Among them, they are banning indoor dining at bars and restaurants, halting school sports and activities, and prohibiting entertainment venues such as casinos, theaters and bowling alleys from being open starting this Saturday until 8 a.m. on Jan. 4.
Tom Wolf has now tested negative for the coronavirus following positive test on Tuesday, continues to quarantine
Saying the health care system is at or nearing its capacity and health care workers are growing tired, Wolf urged Pennsylvanians to “work together to turn the tide of this surge so that our communities can safely bridge the gap between where we stand today and when a vaccine is widely available.”
Wolf described his orders as a “bridge to that better future we all know we can get to in Pennsylvania.”
The reaction it drew ranged from being a bridge too far and one that ends too soon.
Picking up on the governor’s bridge comment, Rep. David Rowe, R-Union County, said on Facebook, “These measures are intended to temporary.” Remember when he said, “Just two weeks to flatten the curve.”? I wonder if he’ll try to sell us a bridge next.”
Rowe’s piano-playing buddy and fellow House Republican lawmaker Andrew Lewis of Dauphin County posted on Facebook challenged the governor’s authority to close businesses.
“The government does NOT have the constitutional authority to shut people and their businesses down,” wrote Lewis, who recovered from his own bout with the coronavirus in the spring. “COVID-19 is certainly real. The current surge should be taken seriously. But you are smart enough to take the necessary precautions without more heavy-handed mandates. I will continue to oppose mandates and lockdowns that cripple our small community businesses and bankrupt our families while showing no evidence of actually stopping the virus.”
Meanwhile, PennPIRG advocate Emma Horst-Martz said, “While the governor is taking some right steps, given how quickly and widely the virus is spreading in the state, we need a stronger response. The quickest way to lower cases dramatically is to close all non-essential businesses and ensure that people stay home.”
In a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday, Wolf urged Congress to act on another federal stimulus plan to help businesses recover from their pandemic losses. He also expressed a willingness to work with the General Assembly on a plan to provide relief in the short term to assist restaurants and bars that he acknowledged have been hard hit.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., however, commended the governor and Levine “for taking this difficult, but necessary, action to contain COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, in an effort to protect lives and prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed. There’s no question that these measures will result in real challenges for restaurant owners, workers and families. That’s why it’s vital that Congress do its part to come together and pass a COVID-19 relief bill to help those impacted by this pandemic.”
But U.S. Rep. Fred Keller, R-Pa., issues a statement critical of the governor’s latest orders saying it shows a “stunning lack of confidence in the people of Pennsylvania who have been living and learning through this pandemic for nearly a year.”
“Since the start of the pandemic, small businesses and workers across Pennsylvania have suffered due to Governor Wolf’s chronic mismanagement and heavy-handed shutdown mandates,” Keller said. “Now, two weeks before Christmas, the governor is once again taking unilateral action that will further devastate our economy and threaten the livelihoods of countless Pennsylvanians simply trying to earn a living.”
Meanwhile, leaders of two state employee labor unions urged Pennsylvanians to adhere to the governor’s orders.
“Our members are on the front lines of this crisis. This is a matter of life and death not just for our members but for everyone.” said Wendell Young IV, President of UFCW Local 1776, which represents liquor store, grocery store and pharmacy clerks and food processing plant workers. “We need to get all workers back to the job. We need to bring businesses and our communities back. That just won’t happen if we don’t all do our part.”
“This disease has taken an enormous toll on our state and nation. This should not be a political issue. This is not a time for partisan politics,” said Dave Fillman, executive director of AFSCME Council 13. “If we all step up and work together, we can turn this around. The consequences of failure are just too great. We all need to double down and be safe.”
The labor union’s nemesis Matt Brouillette, president and CEO of the conservative Commonwealth Partners, countered that view in a statement.
“Gov. Wolf’s newest round of lockdowns underscore his utter disconnect from the people he serves,” Brouillette said. “His orders will force countless businesses to close for good and put thousands of Pennsylvanians out of work just two weeks before Christmas. ... As we’ve seen across the country and around the world, lockdowns cannot stop a virus—as Gov. Wolf contracted it himself—but they have devastating and widespread impacts on businesses, workers, and children.”
Sen. Bob Mensch, R-Montgomery County, commented on Twitter about how the governor’s actions will impact the state’s already overloaded unemployment compensation system.
It is possible to take this public health threat seriously and still believe that the governor’s inconsistent restrictions go too far. His new restrictions will throw more people into a deeply flawed unemployment system that has been unable to handle capacity. pic.twitter.com/KThjzWMpNs — Senator Bob Mensch (@SenatorMensch) December 10, 2020
Gene Barr, president of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, agreed that imposing further mandates on an already weakened business sector will make the path to recovery more difficult.
“The additional mandates kick off yet another chaotic and stressful time for the state’s employers,” Barr said. “There is no doubt that cases are spiking. However, rather than impose new measures in a vacuum, the state needs to more effectively enforce the efforts that are already in place. As we have stressed multiple times, employers need the backing of law enforcement and state officials to effectively enforce the mandates that are designed to keep us safe – particularly mask wearing.”
Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, encouraged Pennsylvanians to comply with the governor’s latest orders. In a tweet, he stated that by celebrating the holidays at home, “we make sure we’re all here to celebrate next year – including essential workers and health care workers.”
New mitigation efforts to #StopTheSpread have just been announced!
With the holidays upon us please remember that when we celebrate at home, we make sure we’re all here to celebrate next year – including essential workers and health care workers.
Together, we can do this! pic.twitter.com/UfHcUygJao — State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta (@RepKenyatta) December 10, 2020
Marc Stier from the liberal-leaning Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center said the culprit in all this is not the governor but the virus itself.
In his statement, he said ,“Make no mistake, it is the disease itself, far more than regulations to protect our health, that is causing economic distress especially for working people, women, Black and brown people, and immigrants. So we should all welcome the governor’s actions and reject attempts to divide us by approaching necessary measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 as an ideological or partisan issue.”
He went on to call on Congress to act to pass another COVID-19 relief act to provide some financial assistance small businesses, front-line workers, the unemployed, and those whose access is threatened to food, housing, and health care.
Former state House staffer-turned lobbyist Todd Brysiak tweeted neither a criticism of the governor’s new order nor support for it. Instead he focused on a way to help restaurants and bars through the next three weeks by supporting them.
If you have the means to do so, order out as much as possible in the coming weeks. If you love beer... go to a local brew pub - @baldbirdsbrews - and get a case, buy a growler, etc. Let’s help our restaurants, bars, pubs & taprooms.
We’re gonna need them when this is over!! — Todd Brysiak (@TBrys09) December 10, 2020
The long rumored “shutdown” has now been made official by Governor Tom Wolf, in part targeting taverns and licensed restaurants by limiting these businesses to take-out only.
Once again, small business taverns and licensed restaurants are bearing the brunt of the mitigation order with no financial or legislative help on the horizon.
We get that the virus is contagious. We get that the number of confirmed cases and hospitalizations are increasing.
What we don’t get is why our state government has asked the industry to sacrifice so much, but continue to sacrifice the industry.
Earlier in the year, the industry heard promises from all four caucuses of grant money coming from the Pa. CARES Fund. That money was instead used to balance the state budget. Unlike several bills to help the industry that he vetoed, Governor Wolf signed the budget and thus eliminated any possibility of those funds bringing relief to our struggling industry and employees.
Frustration within the industry is significant with everything that has played out, particularly when state contact tracing statistics show that less than two percent of those testing positive had been in a bar in the 14 days prior to the onset of their COVID symptoms. Statistically, these actions directed at taverns and restaurants likely cannot play any significant role in helping the Governor reduce the COVID crisis that continues, particularly while other retail establishments are not limited and while PLCB liquor and beer sales continue to set records and as house parties and holiday gatherings increase.
As our family-based industry members comply with the latest order, play their role for the good of public health, and struggle financially over the Holidays, it is time for the Governor to call a special session of the General Assembly to address the crisis within the crisis … the state’s financial abandonment of thousands of Pennsylvania’s small businesses, taverns and restaurants.
Pennsylvania Ping!
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The Left’s experiment to control the little people with phony masks, lockdowns, and social distancing is working. Now they know how easy it is to control the masses. All this for a bogus virus that has a 99% survival rate. No more people are dying in the USA than do in an average year.
I’ll ignore his “orders”.
The Public SERVANT doesn’t get to order the Master to do anything.
Especially that slope shoulder mediocre retard.
What we don’t get is why our state government has asked the industry to sacrifice so much, but continue to sacrifice the industry.
PennLive is Governor Wolf’s biggest fan club.
The idea that those bankrupted will bounce back as soon as the lockdowns are ended is foolish.
Bankrupted, bad credit report, spirit broken, assets liquidated and a guy past 50 years old will start back up just as easy as.....
An idiot's dream.
“The government does NOT have the constitutional authority to shut people and their businesses down,” wrote Lewis”
Academic argument Representative Lewis. The PA Supreme Court says that Governor Wolf has the authority. So unless we’re going to call out the militia to face down the various police agencies we are checkmated.
Democrats, especially Biden & Wolf, hate small businesses. They like big businesses.
Big businesses can give them lots of money. Big businesses can more easily become unionized. Big businesses can hire teams of lawyers to navigate the tax laws and regulations. If they raise prices on consumers to do so...all the better. The tax revenue increases with the cost of goods.
Small businesses? Fagggetaboutit.
The dope and the man beast control you
The dope and the man beast control you
“ The dope and the man beast control you.”
Um....nope.
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