Who’s in Charge Here?

PA joins six states to plan how coronavirus restrictions will end

Joseph Darius Jaafari 

• L’etat, c’est moi: President Trump says that when it comes to when and how the United States reopens its economy, he’s in charge. “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total,” the president said during what The Washington Post described as “a sometimes hostile 2.5-hour news conference in which he offered a live version of an enemies list, brooking no criticism and repeatedly snapping at reporters who dared to challenge his version of events.”

• The states disagree: The president’s remarks were, in part, a response to questions about announcements from two sides of the country that governors will be collaborating to determine when to lift coronavirus restrictions. Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced that he’s joining governors from six other northeast states to create a council to coordinate the reopening, our Ed Mahon reports. As far as President Trump’s views that he alone can order a return to normal, Wolf said:: “Well, seeing as how we had the responsibility for closing the state down, I think we probably have the primary responsibility for opening it up.”

• Here’s the deal (sort of): Early Monday evening, Gov. Wolf broadcasted an eight-minute speech to Pennsylvanians (video | text) to describe what needs to happen before Pa.’s economy can be restarted. If you’re looking for a date from Wolf, the address he gave didn’t provide one. Instead, PennLive reports, he said social distancing and stay-at-home orders need to continue until public health officials are confident the state’s health care system won’t be overwhelmed by new cases. “fully resuming ‘normal life’ [he said], will require time and could be very different from the old normal. …This means stockpiles of supplies at hospitals, time to develop better treatments and possibly a cure or vaccine, Wolf said.”

• Checks and balances I: Republicans in the Pennsylvania legislature have been pushing hard for the past few weeks to lift restrictions keeping many businesses from operating. Wolf’s speech on Monday did nothing to ease GOP concerns about how shutdown orders are being managed. Following Wolf’s address, the two top Senate Republicans issued a statement saying the Senate would return to work Tuesday “to adopt legislation that will put forth a fair and responsible process to re-open businesses across our Commonwealth.” To make their frustration clear, the statement included this line: “Throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency we have endeavored to work together in a bi-partisan manner to do what is in the best interest of our Commonwealth.  Unfortunately, it has become abundantly clear that the Governor’s waiver process for employers to remain open during this time has been extremely flawed and lacks transparency.”

• Checks and balances II: Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a ruling Monday that comes down on Gov. Wolf’s side when it comes to his powers to order businesses to close in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of business owners who believed Wolf overstepped his powers. Penn Capital-Star’s John Micek has a writeup of the ruling.

• Crossing the line: One thing Pennsylvanians would definitely like Wolf to do is reopen the state’s liquor and wine stores. The evidence? So many people in the state’s western counties are crossing into Ohio to buy booze that the governor there issued an order Monday restricting alcohol sales in 6 border counties to Ohio residents only. “Any other time we would love to have visitors from Pennsylvania,” Gov. Mike Dewine (R) said, “but during this time, those who are coming in to buy liquor are creating a health hazard.” The Post-Gazette has the story.

• Vote-by-mail: The battle of voting by mail for the upcoming primaries and general election is likely to be included in one of Congress’ relief bills being debated currently, Huffington Post reports. Republicans have pushed back against vote-by-mail including the President, saying (without proof) that it would result in massive voter fraud. For a breakdown of all the voter fraud cases in the U.S., you can read the cases here at the Heritage Foundation, and get an overarching look of the cases at the Brennan Center for Justice. Meanwhile, county leaders in Pa. are pushing harder for an all-mail June 2 primary, with Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald calling on Gov. Wolf to order all 67 counties to send absentee ballots to voters. (More on this story from the Post-Gazette and the Associated Press.)

• Childcare Crisis: Roughly 20% of the state’s child care providers operate out of residential homes. These day cares are important to the overall business sector, as they provide cheaper and more lenient alternatives to pricier models. But the state has ultimately left it up to them if they want to close their doors amidst the pandemic (daycare centers were ordered closed but could apply for a waiver if they take care of children of essential workers). That’s put some homeowners in an uncomfortable situation. For Keystone Crossroads, Miles Bryan spoke with some business owners who are having a difficult time making that choice.

• Bailout for union workers: Unions were once opposed to emergency loans for big businesses, labeling them ”slush funds” or “bailouts.” Now, they’re attempting to get them to make sure that they still can negotiate on behalf of their members amidst massive furloughs and layoffs, the Post-Gazette reports. “The caveat: Unions want conditions that would dictate how companies spend the money and would specifically protect their contracts and bargaining power.”

• COVID-job portal: If you’re looking for a job, the state has opened up a COVID-19-specific portal for seekers. Employers can submit jobs to the portal, but must be recognized as a “life-sustaining” business and have more than 10 job openings.

• The life of a swab: The New York Times does a soup-to-nuts look at how coronavirus testing is done. Rukmini Callimachi went from drive-in testing sites where people get swabbed for the coronavirus, and followed that swab through its entire process. The story is an in-depth look at how complicated and overburdened the testing system is, and why we have done so few tests compared to other countries.

• 116 reinfected: In some frustrating news, it doesn’t appear that if you got the coronavirus, you’re immune, according to VICE News. In South Korea, 116 people have been reinfected with the novel coronavirus. This points to more questions on what recovery really looks like for people who get infected, and flies in the face of some that those who got it once can’t get it again. Reuters pours some cold water on the South Korea findings, reporting: “Officials are still investigating the cause of the apparent relapses. But Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), has said the virus may have been reactivated rather than the patients being re-infected. Other experts said faulty tests may be playing a role, or remnants of the virus may still be in patients’ systems but not be infectious or of danger to the host or others.”

• Employees write back: The Department of Justice is under fire from its own employees for not providing enough guidance around how employees should be able to work from home or take paid time off, according to a letter obtained by Buzzfeed News. Included in that group are immigration judges, who say that they’re still waiting on clarity from the department: “Judge A. Ashley Tabaddor, speaking as president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, told BuzzFeed News that the immigration judges’ union was still waiting for clarity on issues like flexible hours and part-time status. She said that the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which manages US immigration courts, had an “abysmal” response to the pandemic so far.”