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I can’t help but notice the varying opinions, amount of compliance, and degrees of resistance among Pennsylvanians dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Most now understand that the early warnings of a pandemic weren’t a “media hoax,” and even right-wing hardliners, like Hannity and other opinion pundits on the Fox Network, recognize that it wasn’t a conspiracy to bring down Trump.

Only the ignorant few have dug in their heels so deeply that they find themselves unable to turn back from their previous positions, such as stating people have a “greater chance of getting hit by lightening (sic).” Cue the flying monkeys.

Hoarding

I took advantage of the first early shopping hour for seniors, offered by Giant. There were actually some rolls of toilet paper on the shelf. As I waited to get my usual purchase, there was an older couple who had arrived in front of the toilet paper moments before I got there.

The woman grabbed the last two 24-packs.

“That should hold us long enough,” said the husband.

“The sign says, 2 items per customer,” his wife responded. She then grabbed two 12-packs, two 8-packs, two 4-packs, and two single rolls.

Giant didn’t have hamburger meat, so I’m guessing another man I saw was improvising by loading his cart with 10 large bags of frozen meatballs. 30 pounds worth.

From what I could see, Giant wasn’t enforcing their signage of “two per customer” at the check-out lines.

Social Distancing

While adults seem to be practicing it, some with children are understandably at their wits end. They send their kids outside, and rather than having them stay on their own property, the kids end up at parks.

At first, I was opposed to closing the parks. There were only a couple of kids showing up, but as the days of schools being closed dragged on, and bordering communities closed their own parks, they began congregating in West Easton.

Our parks are now closed and the basketball hoops have been removed, in the hope that their disappearance will deter kids from ending up in the large groups that had been reported.

Public Meetings

West Easton was among the first to announce it was planning to hold its next Council meeting remotely.

As Council President, it falls upon me to do my best to ensure borough business is conducted with transparency, and hopefully with public participation. In this current pandemic, I have to do that in a way that ensures the health and well-being of staff and residents.

Would it have been easier to just cancel future meetings? Sure it would, but if there is another way to get things done and keep West Easton operating as it should, I’ll use it.

It is now apparent that other municipalities and public agencies are going to use online meeting platforms during this emergency.

Shelter-In-Place Order

It is regrettable that West Easton, like other small communities in Pennsylvania under Gov. Wolf’s Shelter-In-Place order, appears to be a ghost town.

It is, nonetheless, a testament of our residents (almost all of them) taking this pandemic seriously and doing our part in attempting to slow the infection rate of Covid-19.

However, it should be noted that the Governor’s order doesn’t mean you can’t leave your house to take a walk. Enjoy the warm days and sunshine. Just keep your distance.

We seem to be a, “Yes, I will” community, in following guidelines and directives, to protect our friends and neighbors.

Disheartening are those in the county who appear to have the attitude of, “No, I won’t.”

Social media indicates there are plenty of people who take the attitude that the “gubbermint” can’t tell them what to do. They openly state they’ll go where they want, when they want. They’ll have Covid-19 parties. They cite their Constitution Rights and spout government oppression.

What they really mean is they are young, healthy, likely to survive an infection, and don’t give a damn about anyone else.

Stimulus Package

I have a problem with it, only because I think it is being dispersed to some people who don’t deserve it. At the same time I confess that I was happy to see it got passed after some changes were made to make it less lop-sided in favor of corporations. Apparently the Congress and Senate can work together to agree on something.

My biggest problem with it is money is given to every American, whether they were employed previously, or not. If they were already unemployed before the pandemic, hadn’t been paying taxes, and receiving free health care or welfare, here’s some more money for them.

Those still employed and receiving a paycheck, also get a government check.

Where should this money have gone?

It should have gone to those who filed for unemployment as a direct result of the Covid-19 lay-offs, keeping a portion of it in reserve for those who file for unemployment for the duration of the pandemic.

These are the people who had been working and giving back to the system. These are the people who had been paying their bills and need the most help until they return to work.

Now, I’m not going to tell you I’m giving back my check, or say the government can keep it.

I’ll take it. I’ll put it into my ROTH IRA, to buy more shares of airline and REIT companies.

What’s Ahead

As of yesterday, positive cases of Covid-19 infections in Pennsylvania rose by 643, for a total of 3,394. Deaths rose another 4, totaling 34.

While I see no panic among the populace (with the exception of the idiots hoarding), the fear lies at the state and federal levels, who realize the deaths will rise significantly, if the healthcare industry is overwhelmed.

Which is why they are trying to slow the infection rate. They know they aren’t going to stop it. They are simply trying to keep it manageable.

While this is purely my own speculation, I’m standing by my previous post predicting schools remaining closed past April 6th, with a real possibility that they will remain closed for the rest of the school year, moving to online classroom instruction.

With President Trump extending Social Distancing Guidelines to the end of April, that he announced last night, I’m pretty confident Gov. Wolf will be extending school closings sometime this week, possibly making an announcement that children won’t be returning until September.

The Shelter-In-Place order will be extended for Northampton County and the others already under the order. Likely, more counties will be added.

As for West Easton, planned events and other matters will be discussed at the next Council meeting, which will be held using Zoom on April 13th. Hopefully, by then we’ll have a better idea of whether or not the pandemic is responding to the social distancing guidelines.

If you want to participate in a pre-meeting gathering on April 4th to familiarize yourself with Zoom, you can email me with your name and address by CLICKING HERE. You will be sent an invitation.