Gov. Tom Wolf won’t give us information to make our own decisions during the covid-19 pandemic. He just issues edicts. All we can see are totals for the county (Donegal to Arnold lumped together) or if we try hard, by ZIP code (15650 is over two townships).
Wolf essentially says we can’t have more specific information because we’d figure out who had covid-19 and be mean to them. Other states, and Allegheny County’s health department, don’t buy that argument — they give better detail. To me, that shows what he thinks of us, that we’d not be caring. It’s insane that disparate far-flung areas are under the same restrictions, and we can’t judge where to go ourselves, using good information.
Looking at his weird behavior with renters’ eviction protection, you wonder: He puts a ban on evictions twice. Then he suddenly says if people get evicted, it’s the Republican legislature’s fault — they’re surprised, because it’s been his thing. Weirder yet, reporters ask him if he’ll set protection again; he shrugs and says, “you have to wait and see.”
I have to wonder: Is he hoping Pennsylvanians are so dumb they’ll forget he could and did set protection before, so they blame Republicans and vote Democratic if they worry about eviction?
Then: Could it be he said things have to be shut down, ruining people’s businesses and finances, in the hopes we’ll think “Trump’s economy, bad” instead of realizing it’s Wolf’s doing?
Would he wreck our lives to swing this swing state?
Alex Kunkle
New Alexandria