{"id":34109,"date":"2020-03-20T08:35:01","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T12:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=34109"},"modified":"2020-03-20T14:50:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T18:50:04","slug":"wolf-orders-shutdown-of-all-non-life-sustaining-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=34109","title":{"rendered":"Wolf orders shutdown of all ‘non life-sustaining’ businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gov. Tom Wolf<\/p><\/div>\n

The lockdown to fight COVID-19 is getting teeth this weekend.<\/p>\n

Gov. Tom Wolf announced Thursday that the state would enforce the closure of all \u201cnon-life sustaining\u201d businesses in the Commonwealth, effective, Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo protect the health and safety of all Pennsylvanians, we need to take more aggressive mitigation actions,\u201d said Gov. Wolf. \u201cThis virus is an invisible danger that could be present everywhere. We need to\u202fact\u202fwith the strength we use\u202fagainst\u202fany\u00a0other\u00a0severe threat. And, we need to act now before the illness spreads more widely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Food, convenience stores, pharmacies, hardware stores, medical offices are among those allowed to remain open. A complete list of which businesses are allowed to remain open can be found at https:\/\/www.governor.pa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/20200319-Life-Sustaining-Business.pdf<\/a>.
\n<\/p>\n

The Wolf Administration is citing the Emergency Management\u00a0Services\u00a0Code to give him the power to do this, arguing that the\u202fgovernor is granted extraordinary powers upon his\u00a0declaration of a disaster emergency<\/a>,\u202fsuch as COVID-19:\u00a0 Among these powers, the\u202fgovernor may control the ingress and egress into the disaster area, the movement of persons, and the occupancy of premises within the disaster area, which has been established to be the entire commonwealth for the COVID-19 disaster emergency. The\u202fsecretary of\u202fhealth separately is authorized under the law to employ measures necessary for the prevention and suppression of disease.<\/p>\n

The governor has directed the following state agencies and local officials to enforce the closure orders to the full extent of the law:<\/p>\n