Trump declares disaster as Wolf shuts schools indefinitely
Source: AP
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The president declared a major disaster in Pennsylvania on Monday night, capping off a day that saw nearly 700 new cases as Gov. Tom Wolf extended the closing of schools and nonessential businesses indefinitely. Wolf also added four more counties — Carbon, Cumberland, Dauphin and Schuylkill — to a separate stay-at-home order and extended its duration by more than three weeks, through at least April 30.
Trump’s order allows for federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 10 million Pennsylvania residents, or 80% of the state’s population, have now been instructed to remain in their homes, with exceptions that include working at a business that’s still open, going to the grocery store or pharmacy, visiting a doctor, caring for a relative or heading outside to exercise.
The Democratic governor said he knows the extended shutdown of businesses, schools and swaths of daily life “isn’t easy to hear,” but is necessary to save lives and keep hospitals from becoming overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. “We’re going to keep our schools and businesses closed as long as we need to keep them closed to keep Pennsylvania safe. Right now, it isn’t safe,” he said.
Read more: https://apnews.com/a2b1bc7d08b30e2be74b54f8eb01d2d1
= new reply since forum marked as read
sadly, unsurprising.
Anyone too willfully ignorant or stupid to understand the trajectory that the course of the pandemic would take--based on well-documented, well-studied previous examples--shouldn't be in elected office.
You had polio still running rampant (with FDR a prime example of that), plus TB, measles/Rubella, etc. Back then, they nailed "quarantined" signs on doors (my Depression-era mom would talk about that). But it's been a continuing struggle that does flare up every once in awhile.
The problem at this moment in time, is something that I heard mentioned in a brief analysis blip on the radio a day or so ago - i.e., at this time in history, we are a society that is bombarded with and accustomed to a lot of "distractions" - notably TV with thousands of channels available now, AND the internet, with even more media options and other ways to continually interact. So that bred a sort of mania where you have more people going "stir crazy" if they can't get their "fix".
Reminds me of the scene near the end of Jim Carrey's "The Cable Guy", where he ("Ernie" ) attempts to commit suicide by falling off a sat tower, with the Matthew Broderick character ("Stephen" ) trying to hold on to him to keep him from falling, until Ernie spouts a foreboding movie line that seals it for Stephen and he lets go. - allowing Ernie to fall. Ernie ends up landing in the middle of the sat dish, essentially cutting off the TV feed for everyone in the area, who stare like zombies at their TVs that have gone blank ( with "snow" ). Then one guy eventually turns the TV off, turns on the light, and picks up a book on a table next to him and starts opening the pages, looking at them in amazement. 
My mother talked about the fear they had back during WW2, when the sirens went off (mostly test) and everyone pulled down their shades and covered windows with drapes because "even a tiny flicker of light could be seen from a plane" (according to her -something often drummed into people to get the message across). I know many of us on DU remember the days of the "blackout shades" in school too and that was still going all the way until almost the '70s...
