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All politics is coronavirus

Gov. Wolf stands firm as President Trump cheers reopen Pa. efforts

  • Joseph Darius Jaafari
State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) speaks at a May 11, 2020, rally outside the state capitol in Harrisburg. Mastriano, in green sweater, called for the resignation of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine.

 Via Sen. Mastriano's Twitter account.

State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) speaks at a May 11, 2020, rally outside the state capitol in Harrisburg. Mastriano, in green sweater, called for the resignation of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine.

Correction

The May 12 edition of Tje Context incorrectly described the business President Trump will visit on May 14. While the president will visit an Owens and Minor Inc. distribution center in Upper Macungie Township, it is not the same Owens and Minor plant where workers isolated themselves for 28 days last month so they could continue producing medical face masks without risk of exposure to the coronavirus. The text below has been updated.

Happy Tuesday, Context readers. Monday was quite the rollercoaster. It started out with officials from several central Pa. counties saying they would begin reopening in defiance of Gov.  Wolf’s shutdown order. That prompted the governor to offer a reality check, which in turn goaded several district attorneys to say they support reopening but can’t guarantee businesses won’t face repercussions from the state. Oh, and lest we forget, a Senate committee asked the state Supreme Court to force Wolf to release more information about businesses granted waivers to operate during the coronavirus closures. We’re breaking that down for you, today. — Joseph Darius Jaafari, staff writer

Via Sen. Mastriano's Twitter account.

State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) speaks at a May 11, 2020, rally outside the state capitol in Harrisburg. Mastriano, in green sweater, called for the resignation of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine. (Via Sen. Mastriano’s Twitter account).

Over the weekend, elected officials from a handful of counties in south-central Pa. – York, Dauphin, Lebanon, Lancaster, Cumberland and Berks – declared that they were tired of waiting for Gov. Tom Wolf to begin easing coronavirus restrictions. Starting this Friday, they said, their counties would move into the “yellow” phase of reopening, whether the governor liked it or not.

Politics, of course, was the background music. Just about every commissioner, sheriff and district attorney backing the reopenings is a Republican. President Trump cheered them on via Twitter, saying yesterday morning that Pennsylvanians should “Move quickly!” in reopening.

Public health advocates were appalled, as expected. But not every Republican official was onboard with the COVID-19 rebellion. Cumberland County’s GOP-majority commission issued a public rebuke of the other counties attempting to reopen. The commissioners said in a press release that they are “not promoting or advocating any actions that are openly defiant of the state of emergency, nor are we encouraging individuals or businesses to break the law.”

And Gov. Wolf didn’t stay silent. While saying he wouldn’t pursue legal action against the counties, he did remind business owners that his administration could take other actions, like revoking licenses. And he said counties that reopened unlawfully would not be eligible for any federal stimulus money that’s under his control.

“I cannot allow residents in a red county to get sick because their local officials can’t see the invisible risk of the virus in their community,” Wolf said. “So, I must, and I will impose consequences if a county locally lifts restrictions when it has not yet been given the go-ahead by the state.” (Video)

Under the governor’s framework, reopening a county requires that it report less than 50 COVID-19 infections per 100,000 people for 14 days straight, be able to conduct proper contact tracing of new coronavirus cases, and have enough medical staff and hospital ICU beds to handle any sudden surge in cases.

The counties threatening to reopen are almost all over the minimum infections required. As of this past weekend, Lebanon County, for example, had 150 positive cases per 100,000 people. Dauphin County had 100. York is the big exception, with just 40 cases per 100,000 over the past two weeks.

As Monday morning turned to afternoon, prosecutors in some of the rebellious counties began issuing statements, one by one, saying their offices would not prosecute or criminalize businesses that violate the governor’s orders. But … and here’s the sign that perhaps saner counsel was being heeded … the prosecutors stressed that business owners should carefully weigh the risks.

“Civil or administrative matters are beyond the scope and standing of this office and it would be inappropriate for us to offer any legal opinions or guidance on that topic,” wrote Berks County DA John T. Adams. “Law enforcement and the District Attorney’s Office has no jurisdiction in matters of State Licensing and Civil or Administrative penalties.”

Still, despite that warning, some of the balking local officials tried to claim a victory:.

“Our blanket refusal to criminalize a business’ decision leaves the individual’s choice – to open or not to open – solely up to the individual,” said Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf.

Again, politics is the backdrop. The same day President Trump tweeted his support to the reopen Pa. efforts, word came that he’ll visit the state on Thursday. The president “is headed to an Upper Macungie Township distribution center for Owens and Minor Inc., a Virginia firm that has sent N95 masks, surgical gowns and gloves to hospitals and surgery centers across the country,” The Morning Call reports. That distribution center, btw, is  owned by the same company that owns a plan where workers lived for 28 days straight so they could keep manufacturing masks without risk of leaving and being exposed to the virus.

Earlier Monday, state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) held a protest rally on the state capitol steps to call for Health Secretary Rachel Levine’s resignation. And ReOpen PA, one of the groups, says it’s holding a protest rally outside the capitol on Friday.

More on this:

Best of the rest

The title section of the suit filed Monday with the state Supreme Court to enforce a legislative subpoena for records related to the Wolf administration’s handling of its coronavirus business waiver program.

  • If it pleases the court: Republican state senators filed a brief Monday with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, asking the justices to enforce the subpoena they issued nearly two weeks ago for all Wolf administration records about coronavirus waivers for businesses, Spotlight PA reports. “Transparency is important in government, and we are in an obviously unprecedented time where the governor is wielding an unprecedented amount of power,” Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) told reporters Monday.

  • Litigation wave?The Philadelphia Inquirer parses the small bits of business waiver information that the Wolf administration released on Friday. At the very end is a quote from Ballard Spahr LLP attorney Shannon Farmer: “Already in Pennsylvania ‘we have started to see lawsuits for wrongful deaths against companies by families claiming they were put at risk by the employer not providing safe working environments.’”

  • Reopening rush: As states begin to reopen – some of which are nowhere near minimal compliance in order to keep the coronavirus from spreading – medical experts are expecting a wave of coronavirus cases earlier than expected. But with that knowledge in hand, can states start being more proactive in their attempts to treat, identify and blunt the curve? We likely won’t see for another month. The New York Times

  • Library reopenings: Libraries are hubs for communities, providing job placement assistance, resume workshops and  free children programs. But as counties start moving into the “yellow” phase of the governor’s plan, there is still little guidance on how they should move forward. Some say it needs to be done on a location-by-location basis, others are looking to the governor for guidance. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

  • Following a release: As hundreds get released from state and county correctional facilities, there has been growing concerns from various stakeholders. Public safety advocates worry about an increase in crime, prisoners’ rights groups worry about if former inmates are being given proper reentry, and family members are concerned about if they’re being exposed to the virus. But, where do the inmates go after they’re released? And what are their lives like, especially as halfway houses and employers have closed their doors. The Philadelphia Inquirer

  • Pregnant and jailed with COVID-19: A pregnant woman in the Erie County Prison tried to get released, as women with pregnancies are at risk of COVID-19 symptoms. Her judge and the district attorney said she and her fetus were safer in jail. The Appeal

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