Republicans in the PA General Assembly have demanded a vote TODAY on SB613, a bill that could override the Governor’s Stay at Home order and put our lives at risk.
The impact of COVID-19 and the necessary response to it has been devasting to us all. Many of are suffering from anxiety and about our own health or that of our friends and relatives. Others are suffering severe economic distress.
Yet we know that is right to choose lives over money the right choice. Good economic policies—policies for which we and you are already advocating—can protect the vulnerable right now and restart our economy when it is safe to do so.
But nothing can bring back the lives of friends and family who die due to COVID-19.
That’s why we are shocked that Republicans are proposing an amendment that would override Governor Wolf’s stay at home order and allow businesses re-open if they promise to follow rules that would allow them to operate without endangering their employees and the rest of us.
Sadly, some legislators are trying to secure votes for the proposal by telling falsehoods.
Some are saying that the economic shutdown will itself cost lives. But the evidence we have tells us that mortality dropped during the Great Depression; and even suicide tends to decline immediately in a in time of war and our fight against COVID-19 is similar.
Others are saying that businesses can open safely by following federal rules. But those rules are only for businesses that must stay open in the emergency. Think for a minute about the human interaction—and the surfaces that multiple people touch—and it will be obvious that there is no way to protect employees or customers in those workplaces. And anyone infected in them will spread the virus everywhere else they go. In addition, the proposal contains no mechanism to enforce any safety rules and no protection for workers do not go to work because they fear for their lives.
Still others are saying we have a right to go to work if we want to do so. But that rights end when we doing so would endanger the lives of others.
Please tell your legislators to listen to reason and science. There will be a time when we can safely leave our homes, open our businesses and get back to work. But we are not there yet.
CONTACT YOUR REPS NOW and tell them choose lives, not money. Tell them to vote NO on SB613.
Find Your Legislator Here ➡️ https://bit.ly/34Br67p
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