Liberal Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf Wants Mask Mandate Until There's a COVID-19 Vaccine

By keepennitreal | 6:45 PM on July 09, 2020

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If you thought big government liberals throwing their weight around with requirements that everyone “mask up” was just a temporary thing that might gradually dissipate, think again – at least if you’re in Pennsylvania. Liberal Gov. Tom Wolf is apparently thinking about extending the state’s mask requirement until there is a vaccine for COVID-19.

Speaking at an event at the PSECU Child Care Center Playground where new means of funding and support for child care centers was discussed, Wolf later fielded a question regarding how long the mask-wearing order would be in place and if there were any indicators that he was watching for regarding possibly ending it sooner rather than later.

“I’m sort of thinking this is until we get a vaccine, but I don’t have any real formal goal there,” Wolf said on a video of the news conference.

He banned people fleeing New York City from renting Airbnbs in the Poconos, ruining the fortunes of a bunch of Airbnb owners there – even where some of the renters were reportedly happy to quarantine. He also did it in a way where Airbnb hosts who already had guests renting who had come from New York weren’t sure if they’d have to forcibly evict them to comply with his decree.

He banned liquor store sales sending Pennsylvanians on long treks to New Jersey for booze, risking more COVID-19 spread, basically as a giveaway to the state-run liquor store employees’ union.

For the record, Pennsylvania’s mask requirement is already pretty broad:

The order from Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine requires Pennsylvania citizens or those visiting the state to wear a mask in all outdoor public spaces if they can’t socially distance and also while inside of businesses. There are some exceptions, including for safety and health reasons, and while the Health Department has said it’s not asking police to enforce the order, it applies to anyone over the age of 2.

Also for the record, while everyone keeps talking about a COVID-19 vaccine, it’s not clear if we’ll actually ever develop one, let alone when.

You might have noticed that other strains of coronavirus exist, but no vaccines for them seem to have been developed, just as no vaccine has been developed for the common cold.

What if no vaccine ever emerges? Are we going to wear masks for the rest of our lives, even potentially while exercising when you might need a freer flow of air to… breathe? Because under Section 3 of the existing order (exceptions), there is no exception for when you’re exercising.

Go for a run in 90 degree weather, and you’re breaking the law if you aren’t masked.

And you could be continuing to break the law every time you go for a run in those conditions until the vaccine comes, which again, may be never.

Masks may be forever in Pennsylvania, it seems, though Wolf supposedly doesn’t “have any real formal goal there.”

Crossposted from KeePENNItReal.com.