Lebanon County elected officials tell Wolf they will move county to 'yellow' phase next week

[modrepub]

Several elected officials in Lebanon County sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday afternoon stating they will move the county to the "yellow" phase of reopening, without waiting for the state's approval.

Wolf announced Friday additional counties that will move to the yellow reopening phase, but did not include Lebanon County on that list. Under the state's guidelines, Lebanon remains in the "red phase," which is the most restrictive of Wolf's three-step plan to reopening Pennsylvania.

Under the red phase, counties are under a "stay at home order" and all non-essential businesses are closed. The yellow phase loosens some restrictions on business closures, but keeps in place guidelines on social distancing and cleaning at businesses.


https://www.ldnews.com/story/news/2020/05/08/lebanon-county-pa-coronavirus-covid-19-officials-plan-move-yellow-phase/3099323001/

This is spreading, Berks County Republicans are saying the same thing. There are two sets of rules, "Rule of Law" when Republicans are in charge, and "States Rights" when Democrats are in charge.

I'll say this until I'm blue in the face, time to tug the purse strings. States and Counties should only get monies they generate internally and they still have to meet their legal obligations to maintain state infrastructure and public education. No more "Walmarting" (making government make up for artificially low wages/benefits).

[cyclonefence]

1. Lebanon County is home to a lot of Amish

and related groups. I wonder what kind of infection/death rate there's been in these closed communities, and if their living so close together (not to mention genetic factors) will have an impact on the spread of coronavirus.

A big industry wherever there are Amish is tourism. An influx of visitors from who knows where surely won't be good for them.

[modrepub]

2. Amish Communities Widespread

They have big families and have moved out of their south-central PA home to other parts of Pennsylvania and other states. One thing you have to remember about the Amish, they don't carry any types of insurance. A builder friend of mine always complained about Amish underbidding him because, unlike him, they didn't have insurance for their Amish workers. I'd think there would be some trouble if it spreads in their community but you'd have a hard time tracking it (and I wouldn't want to force reporting on them without their consent of their bishops). On that note, the Amish community is probably in better physical shape than the US at large (better fed, regular exercise, et cetera) so they may weather the virus better.

I don't think Amish as a whole are that politically active, they generally shun outside contact though most of those close to Lancaster County are generally much more tolerable to contact with the outside world. That's where the tourist area is concentrated and why a lot of more conservative Amish have generally moved out to other parts of PA and other states.