Twenty-four of Pa.'s 67 counties have already moved into the yellow phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus reopening plan, which allows some businesses to reopen, and 13 more will do so this Friday.
But some politicians in “red” phase counties that are still subject to Wolf’s stay-at-home order say they are ready to move to yellow status by the end of the week even if they don’t have Wolf’s permission to do so.
The threats to do so led Wolf to make some pointed comments of his own Monday. He said businesses that open too early could jeopardize their state licenses or run into insurance issues, while counties could lose out on vital federal stimulus funding that Pennsylvania will dole out from the CARES Act.
In response, officials in some counties tapped the brakes on a premature move, but Dauphin, Lancaster, and Lebanon still haven’t decided whether or not they’ll go forward with or without Wolf.
Moving from the red phase into the yellow one will change some lives greatly, while others will hardly notice a difference.
Child care centers can open in the yellow phase, but bars and restaurants may still only offer pick up or delivery options. Gatherings of up to 25 people are allowed in yellow areas, too, but telework is still recommended for employees of companies that can do so. Retail stores with exterior entrances can open, but indoor malls cannot, and manufacturers can get back to work as long as they follow a strict set of guidelines to guard the health of their employees. Most entertainment venues, save for golf courses and fishing marinas, will not open in the yellow phase, and youth, team, and individual sports cannot start, either.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday, April 22, 2020, outlined this three-tiered approach to reopening the state, color-coded by red for the current, most restrictive approach to yellow and, finally, green.Courtesy image | For lehighvalleylive.com
Wolf decides who moves when, and he and his administration use a number of criteria, including but not limited to the number of daily cases on average over a 14-day period, the availability of testing, and hospital capacity. What started out as seemingly a regional approach has now turned into a county-by-county one, as some areas of each of the state’s regions that have not met Wolf’s criteria have remained closed while neighboring counties have opened.
Allegheny, Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland are the counties set to move into the yellow phase Friday. 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 moved there last Friday.
Everyone else is still in the red phase, subject to Wolf’s order that non-life-sustaining businesses close their physical locations and everyone stay at home to the degree possible. If the pattern continues, the next set of counties to advance could be announced Friday, but that isn’t guaranteed.
As officials in Lebanon, Lancaster, and Dauphin prepare to meet Wednesday to consider what they will do, each must decide whether a potential loss of funds doled out by the state — and the risk to businesses of fines, loss of insurance or loss of licenses — is a better option than keeping things shuttered over demands of citizens who just want to get back to work.
All told, then, the problem is the same now as it was in March when the first talk of staying at home, closing schools, and social distancing started: Who gets to decide when it’s safe to return to any normal practices of the past? So far, it’s been Wolf, but the three aforementioned counties, and perhaps others, could test that authority before long.
“We closed down the state in a measured way, looking at data that has had great results across the state, and we are reopening Pennsylvania in the same measured, cadenced way, sequential way and all of it is an effort to do the best job we possibly can in fighting this virus," Wolf said Tuesday.
“We’re all fighting the common enemy here. It’s the coronavirus, and we’re trying to defeat that virus, and the hard stuff that we’re doing right now is all in an effort to do that. If we open too soon, and the virus all of a sudden explodes right back to life, we have been defeated, and we have been defeated by a virus that is not going to quit.”
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