After months of following the stay-at-home order, the curve has effectively flattened, so state Sen. Tom Killion, as well as state Reps. Tim Hennessey and Steve Barrar, feel it is now time to lift some restrictions.
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“We did what we were requested to do by the governor,” said Killion. “We feel like it’s time now to at least open some of our businesses that can be opened safely, following CDC and Department of Health guidelines.”
In a letter to the governor, the lawmakers ask Chester County to be separate from Philadelphia — which also remains in the “red” phase — for purposes of allowing certain businesses to reopen.
Killion noted they aren’t asking to just throw open the doors, but they believe many businesses are being forced to remain closed while similar big chain stores are open.
“Why is a home garden center in a neighborhood any different, any more dangerous than what we’re doing right now at a Home Depot? It isn’t,” he said. “They could probably do it safer.
“If we can just let some of these operations open that are similar, if not almost exactly the same, as the operations that have been opened through this whole 60-day quarantine period — why is it we can’t do that? Why is it we can’t have a dialogue about that?”
He said forcing the smaller stores to close has probably created a more dangerous situation, as it funneled more people to the chain stores.
“I think the immediate response will be a knee-jerk ‘no’ — that’s been what we’ve seen from the administration,” Killion predicted of Wolf, but he hopes the letter will “at least let us start a dialogue” with the governor’s office.