{"id":32094,"date":"2020-05-21T10:33:46","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T14:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=32094"},"modified":"2020-05-21T10:33:52","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T14:33:52","slug":"chesco-commissioners-to-wolf-let-us-prove-ourselves-ready-to-move-to-yellow-june-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=32094","title":{"rendered":"Chesco Commissioners to Wolf: Let us prove ourselves ready to move to Yellow, June 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em> @mikemcgannpa<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Chester County Commissioners issued a statement Wednesday night, calling on Gov. Tom Wolf to allow the county to prove it is ready to move to Yellow status in the state\u2019s reopening plan by June 4 \u2014 and asking county residents to try to be patient and stick it out two more weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the statement, the Commissioners \u2014 Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline \u2014 acknowledge that the county is not ready, yet, but is moving in the right direction. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is we are close, but we are not there quite yet,\u201d the joint statement said\u00a0\u201cWe need to see a bit more of a decline in the number of new positive cases we see each day, and we need to increase access to testing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The statement also had a message for county residents: thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe also recognize that you have been doing your part,\u201d the statement said. \u201cYou have followed the guidelines and have stayed home.\u00a0You have supported small businesses and local restaurants that continue to operate under restrictions.\u00a0You have supported essential workers in their tireless fight against this invisible enemy.\u00a0And for all of this, we thank you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

In making their argument to Wolf, the Commissioners said county data tells them it is almost time to start the reopening process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cChester County\u2019s data indicates that we should be able to safely move to the yellow phase on <\/span>June 4th<\/span>, and that is what we are strongly urging the Governor to agree to. Moving to yellow is really a cautious step forward,\u201d the statement said.\u00a0\u201cThis date gives us sufficient time to expand access to testing and the time needed to see a steadier pace of daily new cases.\u00a0 This date also gives us time to make ready our businesses and organizations so that our residents \u2013 their customers \u2013 can be confident that they will be safe.\u00a0 Most importantly, we have the support of our own Chester County Health Department in aiming for June <\/span>4th<\/span>.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The statement looks at the metrics Wolf has established for counties to advance in the reopening plan and takes issue with some.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Governor has established a complicated set of metrics to determine when a county or region can move to \u2018yellow\u2019, the statement said.\u00a0\u201cOne metric that has been the focus of many is \u201850 new cases per 100,000 people over a 14-day period\u2019.\u00a0Honestly, we don\u2019t think this is a very good metric.\u00a0At nearly 525,000 people, Chester County has a population density that makes achieving this number very difficult.\u00a0We have been fighting hard to use metrics that make better sense, given our demographics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As of this week \u2014 no new county numbers were available Wednesday due to issues with statewide counting at the Department of Health (DOH) \u2014 Chester County had a two-week moving daily average of 42.5 new cases, more than double the governor\u2019s metric, which would require averaging less than 19.6 new cases per day over a 14-day period.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Commissioners said the county has the ability to do contact tracing \u2014 having its own Health Department unlike most counties in the state \u2014 and has been ramping up testing, including the county\u2019s antibody testing program.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, they acknowledge that the data makes it clear the county is not ready to reopen right now, despite a clamor from business groups and some elected officials \u2014 some of whom suggest most of the deaths have come from long-term care facilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMany people in Chester County say we should re-open now because the overwhelming majority of our deaths are related to long-term care facilities,\u201dthe statement said. \u201cWhile this is true, the overall number of daily new positive cases are not related to long-term care facilities.\u00a0 The overall number of daily new positive cases are related to community transmission.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While a further slowing of the spread continues to be a focus, the county is also ramping up efforts to help the business community be prepared and ready to go when the time comes \u2014 addressing the issue of how to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are addressing the \u2018how\u2019, through the work of our COVID-19 Business Task Force, and will have practical information about this for all of our businesses, organizations and residents in the coming days,\u201d the statement said. \u201cIncluding a comprehensive, easy to navigate website that will be a trusted resource, with input from county business leaders on how we move forward economically.\u00a0And for those who may be concerned, how we move forward safely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Commissioners cite the heavy toll the county has endured \u2014 as one of the first counties in the state to be ordered into lockdown status \u2014 and know how difficult it has been for residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID-19 hasn\u2019t just impacted our physical health,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThe domino effect affect has touched our financial health and our emotional health and we have called upon all county resources to help as much as we can for residents and businesses alike.\u00a0Resources like food distribution, mental health services, the Main Street Preservation Grant program.\u00a0Even our Adopt a healthcare facility<\/i> program, <\/i>with churches and community groups providing moral support and acts of kindness for long-term care facility staff and residents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While making the plea to Wolf, the Commissioners asked for county residents to continue to be patient for two more weeks, even if other counties feel they can ignore the governor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow we ask you to do just a bit more,\u201d the statement said.\u00a0\u201cPlease stick with us and give us the time to June 4<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span>.\u00a0Please support us as we continue to appeal to the Governor about our thought-out, data-driven reasons for naming June 4<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> as the date to relax restrictions in Chester County.\u00a0Because the other reality is, we truly do not have the power to decide when to move to \u201cyellow\u201d, the Governor does.\u00a0And if we go against the Governor, it could cripple many of Chester County\u2019s businesses through state licensing restrictions.\u00a0That factor weighs heavily upon us too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa The Chester County Commissioners issued a statement Wednesday night, calling on Gov. Tom Wolf to allow the county to prove it is ready to move to Yellow status in the state\u2019s reopening plan by June 4 \u2014 and asking county residents to try to be patient and stick […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[138,2502,12210,6269,5414,9371],"class_list":["post-32094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-chester-county","tag-commissioners","tag-covid-19","tag-featured","tag-gov-tom-wolf","tag-reopening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32095,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32094\/revisions\/32095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}