On Friday, Governor Tom Wolf announced a list of 24 counties that would be ready to re-open. Under the Governor’s color-coded plan, the counties of Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango, and Warren would re-open under yellow status.
Retailers, child care centers and other places could re-open with safety orders in effect. Indoor recreation and entertainment facilities like movie theaters and gyms will remain closed. Some in-person retail business would be allowed, but curbside or delivery service is still preferred, and restaurants and bars would continue to be limited to carryout or delivery service. Also, large gatherings are still prohibited.
Gov. Wolf talks about why these 24 counties were chosen to move from the red to the yellow phase.
However, not everyone is happy with the list of counties. State representative Jim Struzzi said he was disappointed that Indiana County was not on the list of counties as he believed the county qualified.
Echoing those sentiments was State Senator Joe Pittman who said in a news release that the area’s community hospitals, including IRMC, Armstrong County Memorial Hospital and Butler County Memorial Hospital, remain ready and adequately equipped to handle any additional cases of Covid-19. He added that a bill that would have set specific guidelines based on federal recommendations was vetoed by Governor Wolf, and in his opinion, Pittman said that Wolf is “using a convoluted and arbitrary system far afield from his stated metric of 50 cases per 100,000 people.” He also said that the economic shutdown is hurting Pennsylvania’s employers and the “continued shutdown of our local companies exasperates the problem.”
Both Struzzi and Pittman will join Todd Marino on Indiana in the Morning on Monday to talk about this and more at 9:45 on WCCS.
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