The Bucks County Commissioners released the following statement on Wednesday, May 13:
We are pleased to report Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia did hear from Gov. Wolf’s office this afternoon. The representative was very helpful and appreciated the difficult position everyone is in due to the prolonged stay-at-home order.
Commissioner Marseglia reported there was a consensus that we are rapidly moving toward the “yellow phase” of reopening and there should be more information within the next week.
Cognizant of the need for increased communication, Gov. Wolf has agreed to having a staff designee join our daily regional calls with neighboring southeast PA counties. Commissioner Marseglia believes she has a commitment to be able to reach out to the Governor’s office more effectively from here on in and she advocated for regular, preferably daily, communication between Bucks County Health Department Director Dr. David Damsker and the PA Department of Health’s epidemiology staff and Secretary Rachel Levine.
To be clear, as Bucks County Commissioners we never stated an intention to defy Gov. Wolf’s stay-at-home order as some have inferred. In a meeting with Gov. Wolf’s staff and Secretary Levine over the weekend and in a joint letter to Gov. Wolf, what we had requested was:
– A) consideration of adopting modified metrics
– B) Frequent, if not daily, communication with their administration
– C) A certain date of moving in the “yellow phase,” like so many other counties in Pennsylvania have received, in order for our businesses and citizens to adequately prepare to reopen the economy
These were requests, not demands. We remain optimistic that Gov. Wolf and Secretary Levine may reconsider their reopening metrics, as has been the request of many counties. We look forward to continued, close, and frequent communication from Gov. Wolf, Secretary Levine and their staffs, so we can learn from each other and move as quickly and safely as possible to reopening our economy and returning to some level of normality.
Gov. Wolf very clearly articulated Monday that counties opening early in defiance of his order run the risk of not receiving state funding, which we understand to mean PEMA disaster relief funding and other discretionary state funding that would reimburse local boroughs and townships for COVID-19-related expenses. Additionally, he said that businesses that open in defiance of his closure order run the risk of having their licenses revoked, occupancy permits rescinded, and insurance put in jeopardy, without either of which businesses cannot operate.
We appreciate the frustration, fear and anxiety that many small business owners are feeling right now. While it may be extremely difficult to remain closed now, the alternative of potentially never being able to to open again because you’ve lost your business license or insurance is far worse.
For our small businesses in Bucks County, help is on the way. County government has received funding from the federal CARES Act and we plan to use $6 million of this funding to distribute widely in the form of relief grants to small businesses as quickly as possible.
We will continue to be your advocates in communicating a safe and speedy reopening to Gov. Wolf and his administration. Many people have asked what they can do to help us assist Gov. Wolf in moving Bucks County to yellow and staying on the path to green. It may be tiresome to hear, but the answer is social distancing, the use of face coverings, and taking related precautions. As long as our numbers continue to trend downward and stay down, we will be on the way to full green.
We stand united in praising the outstanding, tireless work of Bucks County employees during this time, in particular the teams led by Dr. Damsker and by Emergency Services Director Scott Forster. Through their efforts, Bucks County is proud to have a statewide-best contact tracing program for COVID-19 cases, with 95 percent successful contact tracing of those testing positive, helping to reduce community spread.
Additionally, our hospitals’ COVID-19 bed and ventilator capacity utilization rate remain extremely low and we are confident that any future spike in cases will be handled without issue. Finally, our testing capacity is among the best in the region and will be able to meet the needs of wider public COVID-19 testing.
