Senator Tom Killion (R-Middletown) issued the following statement in response to Delaware County Council’s Statement on the Governor’s Plan for Reopening:
“I join Delaware County Council in a bi-partisan call for Governor Wolf and the PA Department of Health to modify its metrics to account for infections in our nursing homes and other congregate care facilities to help facilitate a safe, partial reopening of our economy. As my Democratic friends noted, 70 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Delaware County and 20 percent of positive tests have occurred among our nursing home populations. The numbers are similar in Chester County.
“A general shutdown in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic was justified. However, we now know this virus disproportionately affects our seniors and those with underlying conditions. The continued imposition of a society-wide approach hurts those vulnerable populations by siphoning off resources that could be better utilized for their protection. It is not unlike the use of a toxic chemotherapy for a cancer that could be effectively treated with a more focused approach.
“The safe operation of Walmarts and other big box stores across the commonwealth demonstrate that we can safely plan to reopen southeast Pennsylvania. Adhering to the metric previously announced without consideration of congregate care home cases will delay the reopening of our region for weeks if not months.
“As Delaware County Council said in their statement, our region ‘is the economic engine that drives the state economy and contributes a disproportionate share of the State’s tax revenue.’ I join them in saying we must ‘get that economic engine back up and running as quickly as safely possible.’”
Contact: John Kelemen
Phone: 610-436-3320
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