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Gov. Wolf issues stay-at-home order for 7 counties, including Bucks

By Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PA and Justine McDaniel of the Philadelphia Inquirer Spotlight PA

Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday ordered that schools remain closed until early April and issued a stay-at-home order for the seven counties that have been hardest hit by the coronavirus.

Wolf said all schools will remain closed until at least April 6. He said his stay-at-home order, which will take effect at 8 p.m. and last two weeks, applies to Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties in the southeast, Monroe County in the northeast, and Allegheny County in Western Pennsylvania.

“These restrictions are unlike anything we’ve experienced before,” Wolf said at a news conference. “If we want to save lives, we must distance ourselves socially. This is going to be difficult.”

The governor’s new orders took the fight against the coronavirus to a new level in Pennsylvania by requiring residents to remain inside except for essential trips such as buying food or seeking medical help.

Wolf’s order comes a day after Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney issued a similar order for the city’s 1.6 million residents.

In Philadelphia, all public and private gatherings of any number of people that occur outside a single household are banned, except for limited exceptions outlined in Kenney’s order. The work of designated “essential businesses” and “essential personnel” continues as before.

People in the city can leave homes to care for family members, friends, or pets in another household, to deliver essential goods, and to report to a job that’s related to an essential business.

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15 Comments

  • What can we do with a room renter who is violating safe distancing order. He is having 3 to 5 guests over a day that do not live here. Some stay for days. The landlord has told him to stop. he says does not care. I am over 60, the landlord is 70 and has husband she cares for is on oxygen. He is putting all of us at risk. We had the police remove one person. Now they say don’t call any more. Can any one help West End Farm.

    • He is still a free born man of the USA and the govt can’t dictate his coming and going and who he decides to associate with and when and where…thankfully. But we’re right on the razors edge of government telling us who where when and how we can live. All for the sake of the media’s and the academy’s idea of what is best for us, which is dictated by politics.

  • I wonder how many school nurses who do not have any children under the age of 15 will volunteer their school time while their schools are closed working in a local hospital.

    • Melvin, I’ve worked in schools all my life and the nurses are great people & they are wonderful with kids. They are needed in the school environment. They have the patience of saints. That being said, not sure a school nurse would be your first choice for intensive care at a hospital when your life is at stake.

  • Is anyone concerned with how quickly & efficiently your rights have been taken away? They have stopped making arrests in Philadelphia and gun shops are closed. We are told we must remain in our homes and we all follow along like sheep while our economy declines.

    • 1st amendment is suspended. Right of assembly. If you want to get together in public to protest this abuse…armed police will chase you away

      2nd amendment. Stores closed cant buy guns or ammo.

      5th amendment. It’s not just about mafia guys and self-incrimination. It’s about preventing the Government from taking away, without due process, your liberty, pursuit of happiness, and ability to make a living

    • I feel sorry for people that have run out of money, with no pay check coming in. How will they buy food? Will the grocery store give them free food. I think we know the answer to that. Many store owners here in New Hope are already in the red. Some may be done for.

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