Westmoreland County, neighboring officials disappointed not to be reopening May 8

The Westmoreland County commissioners joined officials from other Southwestern Pennsylvania counties in criticizing Gov. Tom Wolf in not including them with others that will have certain pandemic restrictions lifted beginning next week.

Commissioner Sean Kertes was among those Friday expressing disappointment with the governor.

“I was hoping that with our trends going down — the positive tests have not increased in dramatic magnitude — we would see a ‘yellow” code,’” Kertes said.

Westmoreland is bunched in a region with Allegheny County and remains in the “red” phase.

State officials said 24 counties could start lifting restrictions put in place to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. Those counties — all of them in the Northwest and North-Central parts of the state — will be allowed to transition from the “red” phase of closures to the “yellow” phase starting May 8.

A yellow designation allows for easing some restrictions.

In Westmoreland County, 25 people had died from covid-19, 393 people tested positive for the coronavirus and 4,596 tested negative, as of Friday, according to the state Health Department.

Kertes said the governor’s office has told him that within two weeks Wolf will re-evaluate the regional area to see if some restrictions will be lifted, based on parameters Health Department officials have developed.

An official from the state Department of Community and Economic Development contacted him to say county offices could be fully staffed this week, but the caveat was that they had maintain social distancing and the county had to give the workers masks, Kertes said.

The county has not yet figured out how it can abide by the social distancing requirements with more than 475 employees working in various offices.

“We have to have a plan before we open up,” Kertes said. “We will starting having a serious dialogue next week.”

Commissioner Doug Chew said he did not believe it was right to have Westmoreland in the same region as Allegheny County, which has 1,319 confirmed cases and 99 deaths related to covid-19.

Other leaders agree

Despite a lower number of confirmed cases, several rural counties in the Southwest region were not permitted to move from the “red zone,” much to the frustration of local leaders.

“It’s simply not fair to lump our more rural counties in with urban ones. Our population density is nowhere near that of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh,” said state Rep. Joseph Petrarca, D-Washington Township. “In fact, our counties have fewer reported cases than other counties — such as Erie and Centre — that were included in today’s reopening announcement.”

Petrarca represents parts of Westmoreland, Armstrong and Indiana counties. As of Friday, Armstrong had 52 confirmed cases while Indiana had 63.

Sen. Joe Pittman, who covers Armstrong and Indiana counties and parts of Westmoreland and Butler counties said, “Families are suffering. I sincerely hope the governor will quickly come to his senses and act to ease these unnecessary restrictions and allow Armstrong, Butler and Indiana counties to get back to work.”

Pittman noted that the combined number of positive cases in Armstrong, Butler and Indiana counties remained under 300, representing “a minuscule percentage of Pennsylvania’s 47,000 cases as of May 1. He also noted a similarnumber of cases as several counties whose restrictions will be eased.

State Rep. Bob Brooks, R-Murrysville, said that while he is happy to see restrictions lifted within the region, including curbside liquor sales and construction, more needs to be done to help those who are unemployed due to the shutdown.

“The governor needs to trust our citizens to make good decisions when it comes to health and safety,” he said. “Our economy must be restored, which is essential to our citizens’ welfare.”

He added, “It is great to see some of our Commonwealth’s counties will soon be able to resume a normal lifestyle. How about the counties in Western Pennsylvania? I ask the governor to move the 54th District in the ‘yellow phase’ now.”

State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Carmichaels, echoed similar sentiments. Snyder, who represents Greene, Fayette and Washington counties, urged Wolf to immediately lift restrictions, noting that decisions should be made by county rather than by region, especially when Pittsburgh is included.