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Local control, not statewide mandates should guide COVID management

Since March 2020, we have learned a lot about COVID-19 and what makes sense in combatting it, controlling its spread, and implementing public health strategies.

One of the things that we know for a fact, does not make sense, is statewide public health mandates that combat a dynamic virus that has varied regional impacts.

We are all acutely aware of the devastating impact this virus has had on the families and citizens of this commonwealth. However, it is our belief that a more surgical, locally-focused cooperative approach is necessary as we move forward.

Even from the early days of the pandemic, it has been clear that this virus affects different areas of Pennsylvania much differently. As a result, rural Pennsylvania has been dealt a much different result than more urban areas of the commonwealth.

From the start until now, Sullivan County has had fewer than 400 confirmed cases of COVID-19 while Philadelphia has had more than 153,000 confirmed cases.

Cameron County has had just over 200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 while Allegheny County has had over 27,000 confirmed cases.

If those numbers do not show the contrast, most of rural Pennsylvania has a far lower case incident per 100,000 Pennsylvanians than urban areas.

Given these stark differences in the data, it is clear dealing with each Pennsylvania community in the same manner with statewide mandates defies reason.

That is something the people of Pennsylvania have known since last year. It is because of this that the people of Pennsylvania rightly expressed frustration with the statewide mandates that were previously put in place.

While Republicans in the Pennsylvania General Assembly worked to exercise the voice of the people through legislation and attain local control since the onset of COVID-19, those attempts were met with veto after veto from the very person issuing these mandates.

Ultimately, the frustration of the people of Pennsylvania at statewide mandates boiled over at the ballot box through an unprecedented amendment of our state Constitution that signaled their belief that a Pennsylvania-shaped cookie cutter approach to combatting this virus does not make sense.

Unfortunately, the administration has turned a deaf ear to the people that sent a clear message that things need to work differently in this state.

This week the governor announced a new mask mandate for schools and daycares that applies regardless of the regional differences in how this virus impacts Pennsylvania.

The statewide mandate also refused to acknowledge the fact that local control was, in fact, working. School boards and local governments have been hearing from families and individuals and making the decisions that best fit their community needs and reflect their community values.

By the time the administration’s mask mandate was handed down, many students already had returned to school in a patchwork of masking decisions made in a way that best reflects local needs made with local input from local elected officials.

Administration officials in Harrisburg may not like the decisions made in communities in Mifflin County, but they should not argue with local governments and local school districts having the ability to make decisions that best fit their community.

House Republicans stand ready to follow through on that and are already in the process of taking a serious look at potential legislative changes that address this administration’s misuse of current law that deprives communities of local control that includes input from individuals, parents, and families.

Our members also share in the overall goal of promoting public health and ending this pandemic as quickly as possible. However, we cannot, and will not turn our backs on Pennsylvania families and Pennsylvania communities asking to make the right choice for them.

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State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff is the Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. His 171st Legislative District includes Brown, Union, Armagh and Decatur townships in Mifflin County.

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