Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry President and CEO Gene Barr expressed his support with the House’s May 29 adoption of Resolution 836, which terminates the business closure portion of Gov. Tom Wolf’s emergency declaration.
“From the time that the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Pennsylvania in early March, employers have been doing all they can to ensure the safety of their employees and customers – including shutting down for weeks on end in accordance with the Wolf Administration’s business closure order,” Barr said. “However, with the passage of months, health experts now have a better sense on how to mitigate the virus’s spread… Given these factors, we believe it is time for Pennsylvania businesses throughout the Commonwealth to be afforded the opportunity to safely re-open their doors. The current business shutdown is not only devastating our economy, it is heading us down the road to yet another public health crisis.”
Barr’s statement cited a recent report released by the Well Being Trust and the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care that modeled the economic impact on mental health and deaths of despair resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The study estimates, in a slow recovery model, up to an additional 154,037 deaths of despair from drugs, alcohol, and suicide by 2029 due to the current rise in unemployment, isolation, and uncertainty.
“The reality is, Pennsylvania has had one of the strictest business closure requirements in the nation and has bled revenue while other states that also flattened the curve have started to re-open their economies while trusting employers to take the steps necessary to protect their workers and their customers,” Barr said. “The longer this business closure strategy continues, the more our Commonwealth risks losing jobs and economic activity to other states.”
House Resolution 836 does not put the Commonwealth at risk of losing federal COVID-19 emergency funding as it leaves a portion of Wolf’s emergency declaration in place, a statement from the House Republican Caucus read.
“Small businesses are the backbone of Pennsylvania’s economy, and that backbone has been devastated by the governor’s shutdown orders,” Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar (R-Somerset/Bedford) said. “I am proud to have done, and will continue to do, absolutely everything in my power to support Pennsylvania’s small businesses and get our businesses reopened, our people back to work, and our economy back on track.”