PA Opens a Coronavirus Snitch Line for Social Distance Warriors

Fans of snitching on their neighbors and local businesses will surely rejoice at this news.

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Health has opened a snitch line to report individuals and businesses violating the state’s Stay at Home and business closure orders.

We’re not going to link to the page because we believe the behavior is reprehensible and wouldn’t encourage anyone to snitch on anyone for violating these draconian and potentially unconstitutional orders.

Snitching like this has been rampant on Facebook since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic but now those folks who feel it’s their duty to report such behavior can vent their frustrations to health officials.

Our favorites so far have been people going to places specifically to snitch, like this Karen:

Example of a #SocialDistanceWarrior who shows up somewhere and complains about all the other people there, as if they're entitled to it. https://t.co/YDmwv6fCMX

— Coal Region Canary 🐤 (@HardCoalCanary) April 11, 2020

Karen (@themadstone) did not appreciate us calling her out for this ridiculous behavior.

But now, you can be like her and snitch on your neighbors and friends. If the state truly wanted to be transparent, they should inform businesses of who snitched on them so businesses can refuse their business in the future.

Here’s a look at the form so you know what you can report people and businesses for:

This snitching form appears designed for employees of businesses, family and friends of those employees, a business in a person’s community, or for people who have no relation whatsoever to the business.

The form asks what type of business a snitch is reporting. And then it asks what the informant feels is going on that should be of concern to the PA Health Dept.:

• Are employees coming into work sick?
• Is social distancing not being practiced?
• Does it have dirty equipment that’s not being cleaned?
• Are employees not allowed to take regular sanitation breaks?
• Is the employer not communicating Chinese virus cases to employees?
• Are employees not allowed to stay home when they’re sick?
• Is the employer not providing or allowing cloth masks?
• Should the business be closed due to a Stay at Home order?
• Is the business not cleaning areas that are touched often?
• Has the business not established a protocol for employees with positive or probable cases?
• Is the business not screening employees for symptoms?
• Has the business not created a safe environment for its customers?

Lebanon County Rep. Frank Ryan, a retired Marine Reserve Colonel, expressed concern early during the Wolf administration’s pandemic response about the idea of Americans snitching on each other.

On Thursday, he took to Facebook to again express his dismay at the state soliciting snitches. He writes, “My personal opinion is I thought we defeated Stalin like behavior when the cold war ended and the Berlin wall fell. As someone who fought to defeat communism, I find this repulsive.”

New York City’s Snitch Line Did Not Go Well

Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio established a similar snitch line. He encouraged New Yorkers to rat out their neighbors and other businesses whom they felt needed a little reminder about their social distancing behavior.

The snitch line became a dump site for everything but people ratting on each other. The New York Post has more on what the city learned from this snitch line.

Luckily, for Pennsylvania and the Wolf administration, they don’t gives snitches the ability to send any photos.

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• 19 Different Hand Washing Songs for the Coronavirus Outbreak
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