Lehigh Valley lawmakers blast, praise Gov. Wolf’s latest coronavirus order; ‘I don’t believe that the governor understands rural Pennsylvania’

State lawmakers were all over the map -- literally -- Thursday morning as they reacted to Gov. Tom Wolf’s latest coronavirus-mitigation order that shut down some bars and tightened public dining room restrictions statewide.

Republican Sen. David Argall of mostly rural Schuylkill County said, “I don’t believe that the governor understands rural Pennsylvania.”

City-representing Democrat state Rep. Mike Schlossberg, of Allentown, said he understood Wolf’s move as a pre-emptive attack on the latest virus outbreak.

Schlossberg said, “I get it.”

Wednesday afternoon, Wolf and Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine announced a new statewide executive order. It closes bars that do not sell food and limits restaurant and bar dining rooms to 25% capacity, rather than the 50% many had been using under earlier administration directives.

Wolf cited data that showed a prolonged climb in statewide new case counts and evidence that outbreaks in other states were reaching Pennsylvania, and compelling evidence that identified bar and restaurant patrons as culprits for not wearing masks or social distancing.

Many lawmakers, though, have not seen case count increases in their districts.

While Allegheny County has been seeing hundreds of new cases nearly every day, three counties in Pennsylvania -- Sullivan, McKean, and Forest -- have had no cases added in the past week.

Schuylkill County has had four cases or fewer added each day during the past week.

Argall represents all of Schuylkill and parts of Berks County.

“The fact that cases are rising in Pittsburgh, or Philadelphia, doesn’t mean that he has to penalize bar owners in Womelsdorf or McAdoo,” Argall said.

Schlossberg said the main priority for state leaders should be driving down the infection rate.

New case counts in the Lehigh and Northampton counties in recent weeks have not been anywhere near the Allegheny County figures.

“The question for us in the Lehigh Valley is going to be, ‘How long can we hold off from seeing the same kind of spread?‘” Schlossberg said.

Another veteran Democrat from the valley, Sen. Lisa Boscola of Northampton County, saw it very differently.

She said she was “very disappointed” in Wolf’s move.

The 25% capacity limit on restaurants, she said, is going to force a lot of them to close for good -- including ones that did everything right in trying to control virus spread.

Boscola also noted that the Lehigh Valley was among the last areas in the state to have restrictions lifted when virus cases were declining, and its numbers remain fairly low.

“I am more upset that the Lehigh Valley got penalized this way,” she said.

Democrat Sen. Katie Muth’s district includes parts of Chester, Montgomery and Berks counties. She agreed with Wolf that more mitigation is needed to stop the virus resurgence.

But Muth said Wolf needs to place more emphasis on the threat posed by people coming and going from virus hotspots in other states. She said she has told the administration it should consider a public recommendation against non-essential out-of-state travel.

Muth agreed that the 25% capacity limit was going to hit restaurants hard.

She said, “It is really hard for them to operate at a low capacity and still make a profit.”

This story will be updated. Morning Call Capitol correspondent Ford Turner can be reached at fturner@mcall.com

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