Pennsylvanians know we all have to work together to protect ourselves from COVID-19. Thus, the We The People-PA campaign supports Governor Wolf’s insistence that all of Pennsylvania follow the best medical and scientific data in determining how fast businesses re-open and the stay-at-home order ends.
There is no conflict between health and the economy: we need to protect our health in order to restore our economy in the long term. We deplore the efforts of politicians who have been encouraging businesses to reopen prematurely in violation of the governor’s orders and at great risk to the public at large without proper safety precautions for their employees and consumers, and without sufficient testing and contact tracing in place to protect everyone. Working people and their children—especially the Black and brown people who are overrepresented among frontline workers—should not be put at greater risk and denied unemployment benefits if they resist unsafe working conditions in a rush to reopen businesses before it is safe to do so. We encourage the governor to use all of the tools at his disposal to protect working people and the public from businesses that endanger their health and lives.