1/Make no mistake, I was disappointed that @DauphinCounty wasn’t named for yellow phase by @GovernorTomWolf on May 15. I’m anxious for PA to get back on track. However, with about 100 new cases/100,000 residents in the past 14 days in our county, I did not expect otherwise.

2/I am writing in response to @DauphinGOP Commissioner Jeff Haste’s Message to the People of PA on May 8, as well as his other recent statements. @PriesMike https://www.dauphincounty.org/news_detail_T14_R309.php

3/My perspective is that of a physician caring for patients w/COVID & others suffering from job loss, economic hardship, food insecurity, & social isolation. I am also a researcher, mother of school-age children, daughter of elderly parents, and resident of @DauphinCounty.

4/Haste is calling for businesses to reopen now. Reopening will be followed by more COVID & more deaths. That is unavoidable, and a consequence we must accept—I do. You cite that @DauphinCount has had 29 deaths (now 37), which you imply is low—true, it is low compared w/Phila Co

5/You say @GovernorTomWolf’s decision to close PA “has ruined the livelihood of millions of hard-working Pennsylvanians in exchange for 0.4% of our population.” I infer that you find the loss of 1,793,200 jobs of greater value than the lives of the 3,616 PA residents who've died

6/Thus, 495 jobs are worth more than 1 life in your view. Fair enough—Haste, tell us what # jobs are worth 1 life lost in your view? That will help constituents understand how you are balancing job loss vs. life loss when you say, “enough is enough.”

7/You have “trust & have faith in the great people & business of PA to operate in a manner that protects those of our population in harm’s way” but when I go for take-out employees are often not physically distanced, not wearing masks. So I leave.

8/What have you, as our Co. commissioners, done to help business be able to comply with distancing, mask wearing, & hand hygiene recommendations so more businesses can open? @GovernorTomWolf has careful rules that businesses must follow to open safely during yellow phase.

9/In your defiant declaration for @DauphinCounty to go yellow May 15, are you requiring those same measures? What help will business have to reopen safely?

10/Re: healthcare capacity, you say vents & hospital beds aren’t maxed out, which is a sigh of relief to know they’ll be available when needed in the coming weeks. Please do not assume that vents & hospital beds are the only metrics of healthcare system preparedness.

11/Can you reassure us w/data on # days of PPE & disinfectant supplies our hospitals & nursing homes have on hand? How often we are re-using PPE intended for single use, and the safety of those practices?

12/If hospitalized, what access do @DauphinCounty residents have to remdesivir, the only FDA-approved medication for severe COVID-19?

13/In order to safely reopen, we need adequate COVID testing capacity and plans for contact tracing—what is the status of those efforts in the county? Are the residents of @DauphinCounty aware of when & how to get tested?

14/Finally, re: your comments regarding long-term care facilities and nursing homes. Please exercise sensitivity when you refer to our older Pennsylvanians. As you know, we have one of the highest number of long-term care beds per capita in PA compared with other states.

15/COVID in our nursing homes is dire—the National Guard has been in a Dauphin Co. nursing home for several weeks. In your message, you removed nursing home deaths from your calculations—your rationale for not thinking those deaths should be considered?

16/What have the Co. commissioners done to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on our loved ones living in nursing homes?

17/Yes, “enough is enough.” During this challenging time when we have lost lives and jobs, Pennsylvanians want leaders to bring us together and be united. Interestingly, you accuse @GovernorTomWolf of pitting groups of Pennsylvanians against each other.

18/I would suggest that the inflammatory language in your statement (saying @GovernorTomWolf is a dictator) is more divisive than anything I have seen from the Gov’s office. Let me be clear, I am not necessarily objecting to your assertion that Dauphin Co. should reopen…

19/…but in the same vein as what you say you expect from @GovernorTomWolf’s office, do not expect blind acceptance of your decision to reopen Dauphin Co. w/o providing your data, your model assumptions, & your risk tolerance for lives lost when reopening business in our county.