On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all bars across Pennsylvania closed. Restaurants must reduce building capacity to 25%.
The slapdash decision puts businesses across the state in jeopardy of closing.
Here in Schuylkill County, these businesses finally were permitted to reopen and allow customers inside on June 19. That’s when Schuylkill County got shifted to the green phase of Wolf’s coronavirus reopening plan.
Less than a month later, those bars are closing again. That could be the end for many.
Wolf Closing Schuylkill County Bars Over 36 “New” Cases of Coronavirus in July
After a month, a business like a bar is finally getting back into the swing of Wolf’s dystopian “new normal” Pennsylvania. It’s very likely these businesses have purchase orders due to their establishments. They have inventory that now could go bad. That’s wasted money.
There’s no timeline for reopening. Like this entire pandemic, that decision belongs to Tom Wolf and Tom Wolf, alone.
Bars and restaurants, for now, are completely at his “mercy” and subject to his whims.
During Wednesday’s press conference to announce his latest draconian measure to “stop” the coronavirus, Wolf said he’s making the decision due to an “unsettling” rise in coronavirus cases statewide.
Outside of Philadelphia and Allegheny counties, that statement is almost entirely false.
In fact, in Schuylkill County, we’ve seen very low “new” case totals in July.
Through 15 days, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health reported just 36 “new” cases of COVID-19 in July. That’s an average of 2.4 per day. We don’t know if these cases are actually new, of course. The state DOH says they are, but they can’t give a straight answer on how they report data on their website. Information they say is there simply isn’t.
Even today, Health Secretary Rachel Levine admitted some test results take weeks to get back from certain labs. But when the results do come back, even if they’re 2 weeks old, they get reported as “new” cases.
The Canary busted the DOH fudging COVID data in relation to a Schuylkill County nursing home several weeks ago, too.
If you can’t be trusted with one set of data, why should anyone trust any of the other numbers?
“Unsettling” Case Total
So, even if we were to trust the state’s report of 36 new cases of coronavirus in Schuylkill County in July, is that “unsettling”?
The publisher of the Shenandoah Sentinel framed it up perfectly in her tweet Wednesday night:
Schuylkill County has NOT had a surge in cases at all in the past month and a half, and yet our businesses are being sent back to the brink because of the metropolitan areas.
What a wonderful reward for actually flattening the curve locally. pic.twitter.com/4licX0yvUk
— Kaylee Lindenmuth (@Kaylin5171) July 16, 2020
Wednesday’s decision likely will make the mask police leaders very happy. They’ll wave their “toldyaso” finger at you and say, “Toldya no one was following the rules.” And it’s true. There are people out there right now — check your social media feeds — celebrating today’s decision.
Those people are the ones most likely to have never left their house since March, too. So, their happiness means nothing.
What Wednesday’s decision definitely will do, however, is close some businesses for good. And think about it, these businesses are like second homes for many Schuylkill County residents, for better or worse. Bars and restaurants are where many couples have a magical moment or are the place where people meet for the first time in their lives and become best friends and more. These places, more than most other businesses, hold sentimental value for many for generations.
And now, they could close forever because one man in Harrisburg finds it “unsettling” that “new” case totals are going up after people finally start interacting with each other after months apart 100 miles away from Schuylkill County.
What science and data tells Gov. Wolf that this is a smart decision?
ALSO READ:
- Pennsylvania Restaurants Going to 25% Occupancy, Bars Closing at Midnight
- Governor’s Actions Wednesday “Could Be the Final Stake in the Heart” for Some Small Businesses in Schuylkill County
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Governor on HR836
- Wolf Now Requires Masks in ALL Public Places
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ed
July 16, 2020 at 12:23 am
Covid 19 has not left planet earth. There is NO cure at this time. Unless a very close loved one has passed from Covid 19, then you most likely believe that Covid 19 happens to other people and not here in Schuylkill County Pa. WAKE UP! This is a deadly virus with NO cure at this time. This situation is REAL and is getting worse (AGAIN) because so many people think it is a JOKE! By wearing a mask, you are protecting your Mother, grandmother, grandfather and all of the people that you care about. Please be safe, please wear your mask. God bless
Frank
July 16, 2020 at 6:32 am
Thanks for the lecture Ed. Otherwise we wouldn’t have cared one bit about our elderly loved ones. The article is about closing businesses which support families and communities. The virus isn’t going away. Do we shutter businesses and destroy the economy for good?
Will we shut down during flu season now? Wolf appears to enjoy killing small business and families while allowing the big corps to fill the vacuum.
Most of us know about social distancing, masks and washing hands Ed. We have lives to live. Live yours and we will live ours. God Bless
Zille
July 16, 2020 at 11:23 am
Oh, brother….my nephew had the Covid, 38; is fine. His mother who is 68 had the Covid, with pneumonia, is fine…so how deadly. People are going to die from viruses, they do every year.It all depends on your genetic makeup. Stay in your house and live in fear….what do you do during flu season? that virus is also deadly…..
PTFloridians
July 16, 2020 at 5:39 pm
You seem to be a very useful idiot, Ed…your stale narrative proves your ignorance and inability to investigate matters and think critically, on your own. You should voice your concerns with the Gov and Levine after they killed many of our elderly in one fatal swoop. Stay in your house, wear your mask, and dither your life away. Your life is a unique gift, given to you, to not waste away. Live and Love.
WolfNeeds2Go
July 16, 2020 at 2:52 am
Most of the people who get COVID recover or are asymptotic. If you have health issues that make you more susceptible to COVID or if you are in the high risk age groups, you need to protect yourselves. But the entire population should not be forced to stop working and close their business which will lead to going bankrupt and losing everything!
Cesare B.
July 17, 2020 at 7:18 pm
Like it or don’t, ed’s right. If most of you would understand that serving your community’s best interests serve your own selfish interests, you’d all be a lot better off. Instead, keep acting like a bunch of impudent children and making this whole thing worse.
Canary Commenter
July 17, 2020 at 9:50 pm
Well, apparently the way we’re acting like children is working. Our case totals are way down.
PTFloridians
July 18, 2020 at 11:01 pm
Ed’s not right, he’s left…that’s the problem. Cases down, deaths are stopped cold. Now what.
ken pittman
July 19, 2020 at 8:09 pm
Impeach Wolf.