HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf followed through on his threat to yank COVID-19 funding from a county that defied his shutdown orders, while his administration targeted bars, restaurants and large gatherings statewide Thursday in an effort to prevent a wider resurgence of the virus that officials say could jeopardize students’ return to school.
Wolf withheld nearly $13 million in funding from Lebanon County, where local Republican leaders voted in mid-May to lift pandemic restrictions in defiance of the Democratic governor. Pennsylvania distributed $625 million of its federal coronavirus relief allotment to counties that did not get direct aid from the federal government. Wolf’s decision left Lebanon as the only one of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties to have not gotten any of the federal money.
Asked about it at a news conference Thursday, Wolf blamed the county’s GOP-controlled Board of Commissioners and suggested that Lebanon residents should kick them out of office.
“Don’t come and say you want something from the state when you haven’t followed the rules. There are consequences. These are the consequences. I think I’m being consistent here,” he said.
The region’s congressman, GOP Rep. Dan Meuser, said Wolf lacked the legal authority to withhold the money and implored him to release it, writing to the governor: “Lives and livelihoods are at stake.” The local chamber of commerce called it an “unacceptable exclusion of just one county” and said Wolf’s decision unfairly punishes small businesses, nonprofits and others.
Lebanon County Commissioner Robert Phillips, the board’s chairperson, declined to respond directly to Wolf’s comments, saying he didn’t want to “add fuel to the fire … and put that money at further risk.”
Amid the partisan fight over funding, Pennsylvania reimposed statewide restrictions Thursday on bars, restaurants, and larger indoor gatherings — now limited to 25 people, down from 250 — in response to what Wolf has called an “unsettling climb” in virus infections.
Under Wolf’s order, nightclubs are shut down, bars are closed unless they also offer dine-in meals, and bars and restaurants are limited to 25% capacity.
Critics questioned the need for statewide restrictions when only a few areas of the state have been seeing rising case numbers, and confusion reigned among some bar and restaurant owners over what exactly constitutes a “meal” — do french fries count?
Businesses impacted by the order said they’re barely hanging on.
“I don’t know what to do. Do you close your doors? Do you keep them open? It can’t keep going on like this,” said Suzie Domasky, an owner of Ferrante’s Lakeview in Westmoreland County.
Ferrante’s, which hosts weddings and other big events and was shuttered for three months in the spring because of pandemic restrictions, immediately lost another big booking — a Christmas party — in the wake of Wolf’s latest business shutdown.
And because of the statewide limitations on gatherings, the events that do remain on Ferrante’s calendar will only be able to accommodate just a fraction of what they normally would, Domasky said.
“Every time the governor announces something, I lose more money by the day,” she said.
Wolf has warned of increased viral spread and said the new restrictions are needed to help keep Pennsylvania’s numbers manageable, especially with schools planning to reopen for the fall. Disease modeling from PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia shows infections rising sharply in Philadelphia and the suburbs in coming weeks.
In other coronavirus-related developments in Pennsylvania on Thursday:
Hazard pay
Supermarket cashiers, bus drivers, custodians, health care workers and other workers on the front lines of the pandemic could get a temporary, $3-an-hour pay raise under a $50 million grant program touted by the Wolf administration Thursday.
The program is available to employers for the purpose of offering hazard pay to front-line workers. The application period opened Thursday and will run through July 31.
Workers making less than $20 an hour are eligible for up to $1,200 in hazard pay over a 10-week period between Aug. 16 and Oct. 24.
Funding comes from Pennsylvania’s share of the federal coronavirus relief package.
Cases
The state Department of Health on Thursday reported six new confirmed case of COVID-19 in Luzerne County and no new deaths. The Luzerne County total cases are now at 3,042, and the death count remains at 181.
Neighboring Lackawanna County has 1,777 cases and 212 deaths; Monroe County has 1,487 cases and 114 deaths.
Pennsylvania reported 781 new coronavirus cases Thursday, bringing the statewide total to more than 98,000.
The state Department of Health said there were 16 additional deaths for a new statewide toll of 6,973.
Allegheny County, which has figured in a recent surge in virus cases, reported 140 new cases from tests conducted between June 30 and July 14. Philadelphia reported 132 new infections.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher than the state’s confirmed case count because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in a couple of weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.