My mind is in knots trying to figure out the logic of county and state officials imposing restrictions on a single industry because of the actions of (by their own admission) a few bad actors.
This most recent crippling of the hospitality industry — which will most likely be the death blow for many of our favorite neighborhood establishments — is hypocritical at best, and criminal at worst. Contact tracing showed bars in the South Side and Oakland breaking the rules? Punish the entire county. Allegheny and Philadelphia have a spike in cases? Shut down bars in Cambria and Potter.
Imagine the outrage if the governor shut down all places of worship for a particular religion because an investigation showed a few members of one were plotting something nefarious. Just like we are (justifiably) upset when groups of peaceful protesters are rounded up and detained (or worse) because one idiot set a car on fire.
Wear a mask. Wear 10 masks on top of one another. And when a person doesn’t, don’t let them in. And when an establishment doesn’t follow the rules, fine them.
If masks violate your personal liberty, stay home. Don’t decimate an industry and deprive people of one of their few remaining outlets of normalcy because of a few selfish morons.
Toby Eberhart
O’Hara