Officials seeing red over remaining in the ‘red phase’
Rep. Pam Snyder
Sen. Camera Bartolotta
Irey Vaughan
Greene County Commissioner Mike Belding
Rep. Josh Kail
Continue to shelter in place was the word from Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday, when many officials in Southwestern Pennsylvania anticipated a partial lifting of restrictions put in place to halt the novel coronavirus.
But unlike its northern neighbors, this region will not be reopening come May 8.
In Greene County, where there have only been 26 positive cases of the coronavirus, officials wonder why they were not one of the two dozen counties that get to begin reopening their economies.
The classification brought a strong rebuke from state Rep. Pam Snyder (D-Jefferson), who called it “inaccurate and unfair” and demanded that Wolf, a fellow Democrat, immediately lift limits county by county rather than by region, a sentiment echoed by state Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-Carroll).
With neighboring West Virginia reopening on Monday, she foresees the potential of an “additional devastating blow to our local businesses. Every single day the governor delays reopening our counties is crushing our businesses and devastating our communities.”
Snyder’s district includes all of Greene and parts of Washington and Fayette counties, and Bartolotta’s, most of Washington County, all of Greene and part of Beaver County.
“I thought we would have been rewarded a little bit,” said Greene Commissioner Mike Belding, a Republican.
Belding said the commissioners will continue to encourage their residents to follow the governor’s order and abide by the stay-at-home order. However, he does feel that Greene County is in a position to get back to work.
“I think that small businesses in Greene County can open up and start revitalizing the economy,” Belding said.
Belding also took issue with Greene County being at the mercy of Allegheny County.
“We have never been compared to Allegheny County in any characteristic that you can think of. Why would we now?” Belding asked.
He also lamented what he says has been poor communication from the governor’s office regarding what regions that were being targeted for reopening.
“A little more predictive forecasting of the next steps would be appropriate, I think,” Belding said. “It’s hard to be disappointed when you don’t know what the expectation from one day to another is.”
Asked to rate her level of disappointment with the governor’s decision on a scale of one to 10, Washington County Commission Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan, also a Republican, said her level would exceed 10.
“The governor changed the metric,” Irey Vaughan said after Friday afternoon’s televised press conference.
State Rep. Mike Turzai, speaker of the House and an Allegheny County Republican, emailed a chart on the number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 of population in 11 Southwestern Pennsylvania counties between April 18 and May 1.
Greene County was the lowest with 5.5. Washington had 23.1, Allegheny, 28.1, and Westmoreland, 41.9.
Exceeding the measure of fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 of population was Beaver, with 137.8.
“Less than 5% of the hospital beds are COVID-19 occupied, and every county but one meets the administration’s 14-day total of COVID-19-related cases,” Turzai said in the news release.
Nearly 70% of the cases in the outlier, Beaver County, are attributable to long-term care facilities, Turzai said, adding, “We urge the governor to move the southwest counties to the yellow phase immediately.”
State Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine cited Pittsburgh’s and Allegheny County’s population density as one of the main factors that can lead to the community spread of COVID-19.
“I’d say it is very unfair to the rest of the counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania,” Irey Vaughan said. “I think we are being penalized.
“People can’t put food on the table, and they are not able to provide for the basic needs of their families. Individuals are waiting for unemployment checks and stimulus checks to come.
“Their patience is gone.”
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, in a phone interview Friday afternoon, said of Levine’s explanation, “I don’t think the metrics have changed. Gov. Wolf said we were close, and if we continue with the good numbers we’ve had here in Southwestern Pennsylvania, we were next.”
Even though there was no word from Wolf or Levine Friday about when the southwest corner’s situation would be reevaluated, Fitzgerald said, “My sense is it will be next week. We are very close, our numbers are very good, but in northwest and north central Pennsylvania, the numbers were even better.”
He gave credit for the “good numbers” to health experts in the region and residents who have taken the advice of the Allegheny County Health Department and others by wearing masks, washing hands and practicing social distancing. He asked citizens to employ these safeguards “day after day, week after week, until a vaccine or a cure is found. My hope is if we continue where we are, we would be going from red to yellow on the map.”
State Rep. Josh Kail (R-Beaver, Washington) asked for “a better process in place for areas like ours that are stuck under the stay-at-home order indefinitely. Rather than focusing on dividing workers into essential and nonessential groups, we should be thinking about whether businesses can operate safely.”