Lowpe
Posts: 22133
Joined: 2/25/2013 Status: offline
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Sitrep in PA: A few facts on Pennsylvania, population 12 million. It takes 7 hours to traverse the state by car. PA is pretty much a republican/democrat divided state. Governor's office routinely switches, usually always have 1 senator from each party, usually leans democrat in Presidential elections. Large cities and large rural areas and large recreation areas. A real mix. The Pennsylvania Governor refuses to let press ask follow up questions, and questions are submitted in writing to be read to the Governor by an aide. Counties are opening back up on their own, and it is not a political divide. Democrats are leading the charge in Bucks and Northampton counties, Republicans in rural Franklin County, independent technocrats in Dauphin. They are doing this in conjunction with advice from their hospital systems. I posted a link to Dauphin county's letter, it quotes hospital occupancy, ventilator usage and supply, infection rates. Seems to me they have a pretty good handle on what is happening in their county. I just heard the Democrats in Bucks can't even speak to the Sec of Health or the Governor. The best they could get was an aide on a Sunday and a promise they might hear back from then in a week or two. They felt that the Governor and Secretary was at best making decisions on a regional basis. The State's decision making on which businesses can open, are considered essential, was secret. One building contractor could, another couldn't even though they did the same type of construction, etc. They all question the numbers. What is the science behind the 50 new infections per 100,000 threshold level? How is increased testing factored in, or new hospitalizations factored in? For example. Bucks County (democrat) has a very sophisticated contact tracing program in force, how is that factored in? Exclude nursing home residents and they meet threshold, and the nursing homes are bad because the state failed to implement their mitigation policy while the county could't get their calls returned by the state. Meanwhile, in Media they came down hard on a barber that opened up recently, while other communities refuse to prosecute anyone. The Governor is threatening businesses, counties, with punitive actions, describing local politicians decision making as whims. It is interesting to note, in PA you are not eligible for Unemployment if you are considered an owner of the business. Almost every small business owner, basically. You do pay unemployment insurance though. Also of note, is that Governor Wolfe cannot run for re-election. This centralized vs less centralized decision making argument is a case study here in Pennsylvania, and it is only accelerating. I hear that town here near Philly is planning on opening up, perhaps making an announcement tomorrow. Then it will devolve into a town/county/state fracture.
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