Letter to the editor: Shutdown is decimating Pa.

Bankrupting individuals and businesses will be more detrimental and deadly to our state than covid-19 or any other cause of death.

There is a significant gap between those whose wealth and power insulates them from experiencing hardship as a result of Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown mandates, and those with little to no income during this time. Wolf will never feel the impact of this shutdown, and his measures are an excellent “widen the gap” initiative.

He wants a plan that “respects the reality” on the ground, and he has argued his policies are “directed by practicality rather than ideology.”

The reality is that the biggest contributor to poverty is lack of jobs. The Pennsylvania labor force is reported at 6.5 million people. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported 21% of the Pennsylvania work force has filed for unemployment, with the actual number much higher due to the inability of the state’s system to handle all filings. Pennsylvania’s nearly 1 million small businesses and 50% of our private sector work force are being decimated not by covid-19, but rather by Wolf’s shutdown.

We could flatten the curve on most all causes of death by using your current stay-at-home measures. Is that practical?

As human beings we live with death and risk every day. The last month has been a great story about people uniting and succeeding. It has also been a story about government dividing and failing the people.

Scott Graham

Franklin Park