Why I Stood as Part of the 'Reopen PA' Rally

Reopen PA Rally

Mike Jones, a Republican who represents Pennsylvania’s 93rd legislative district in the state’s House of Representatives, writes in The Washington Post:

This week, I stood on the steps of the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., joined by hundreds of fellow citizens at the peaceful “Reopen PA” rally. Voices cheered, car horns honked and flags waved. While critics will undoubtedly focus on the shortage of masks and lack of social distancing, I saw the best of America: people exercising their rights to free speech and assembly in defense of economic liberty...

I recently spoke with a barbershop owner who, two months ago, had dreams of buying her own building. Now, she is worried about losing everything. A young couple in my district fears losing financing for their new home because the state won’t allow construction workers to complete it. A local garden-center owner is dumbfounded that he can’t sell seedlings and plants to customers who want to grow their own food and beautify the homes to which they are now confined. Across the state, the unemployment rate is now 25 percent and rising — a level that recalls the worst of the Great Depression.

This devastation is the predictable result of our approach to containing the coronavirus. Of course, a deadly pandemic requires extraordinary measures, and it would be unsafe and irresponsible to expect to continue life as normal. Public health officials bring valuable scientific expertise to an unprecedented challenge. But these public health officials are advisers, not policymakers. It is the job of elected officials to consider their advice seriously and then weigh it against competing concerns, including economic ones...

 In Pennsylvania, this abdication has brought an unnecessary halt to a host of business activities that can be operated safely and that continue in almost every other state in the nation — including areas with much higher rates of covid-19 infection.