Dauphin County commissioners dropped plans to unilaterally break out of Gov. Tom Wolf’s staged, pandemic reopening plan Wednesday.
Instead, they voted to create a “Reopening and Restoring Dauphin County Task Force” to guide the county as it does reopen in compliance with the state’s plan. That would include, the commissioners noted, a full look at whether any businesses currently closed could reopen safely within the state’s rules and federal Centers for Disease Control guidelines even as the county, for the time being, remains in red.
Also, Commission Chairman Jeff Haste reiterated, he is considering Dauphin a “business sanctuary” county with no plans for local prosecution of any law enforcement citations for businesses accused of opening against the state’s current business closure orders.
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Openly frustrated with the governor’s handling of the situation, commissioners Haste and Mike Pries, the majority Republicans on the board, lashed out at Wolf for his threats Monday to hold back federal funds and punish state-licensed businesses, and said by almost all metrics they believed that more businesses in the county could launch a safe reopening.
“Are we cowards for working to support our residents at a time of need? Socially, emotionally and economically?... Because we are speaking on behalf of our residents?” Pries asked. “If that’s the case, then I wear the governor’s scorn as a badge of honor.”
But considering all alternatives, the Republicans said this was a fight that they could not win at the moment.
“The governor’s words and actions have made it quite difficult on this board,” Haste said. “He has silenced our vote on moving forward (to yellow). It’s also clear he has not silenced our voice.”
So Dauphin, for the moment, remains in the lockdown phase of the governor’s controversial pandemic reopening plan, with only those businesses deemed by the state to be “life-sustaining” or holding state-granted waivers operating, and many more waiting for Wolf’s team to certify the county for a move to the “yellow” phase.
Haste and Pries, late last week, said they were among several county boards planning a vote to move the county unilaterally ahead of the governor’s schedule.
Their argument came down to this: They’ve seen their residents respond, sometimes at tremendous personal cost, to Wolf’s initial emergency lockdown and its stated goals of buying time against the virus so that the state’s hospitals aren’t overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases. And, as of mid-May, the commissioners say, they feel they’ve won.
Now, it’s time to reward those residents for their patience by starting to let them resume their lives and livelihoods.
“They understand what is going on (with the virus). Their social patterns have changed. I truly believe, if given the opportunity, businesses and citizens and residents will do the right thing, will follow the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) guidelines, and will let the rest of the business go,” Haste said in an interview with PennLive Saturday.
“They need to have that choice. And if they choose not to, and they’re still afraid to open or they’re still afraid to go out, they have the choice to stay home. The governor has said to everybody: ‘We don’t have any faith in you. We don’t want you to have that choice, and here’s what your choice is.' And I just disagree with that and I believe I have more faith in the people of Pennsylvania than he does.”
But Wolf pushed back hard on Monday, urging local officials to stay the course with a plan that he said is working - as shown by the fact that Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 case count has remained well below neighboring New York and New Jersey, hospitals here were never overwhelmed with critically ill patients, and that, as of Friday, 37 counties of the state’s 67 counties will have begun reopening.
Dauphin, with a new case incidence rate of 107 per 100,000 residents - more than twice the state’s threshold of 50 cases for moving to yellow - is not one of those counties at present.
Wolf threatened Monday to punish counties that acted independently, by withholding federal pandemic relief funds and bringing the full weight of state licensing discipline down on businesses that opened ahead of schedule. That, in the end, was the play that caused the commissioners here to step back from the brink.
Commissioners said one of the aims of the new task force will be to help all businesses maximize their opportunities in each phase of the governor’s plan as Dauphin as the county is moved through it, including reopeining where possible. It will also look at other challenges such as potential increases in addiction or mental health issues arising from the economic challenges.
But, in order to remain eligible for all available federal funding and avoid potentially severe penalties, they will do it within the state’s confines. The motion to establish the task force passed 2-0, with Pries and Hartwick voting in favor. Haste had to leave the meeting before the vote because he was scheduled to testify at a state Senate committee hearing.