State troopers will issue citations as a last resort

State Police say they will continue to encourage businesses to comply with Gov. Tom Wolf’s closure orders.

HARRISBURG, PA. » Two days after Gov. Tom Wolf lambasted them as “cowardly” and vowed to withhold funding, several Pennsylvania counties signaled Wednesday they are moving ahead with plans to defy him by lifting some pandemic restrictions.

Others backed down under the governor’s threat.

Commissioners in many GOP-controlled counties where the Democratic governor has yet to ease any restrictions say they can manage the public health impacts of COVID-19 and reopen safely. They say the shutdown threatens to destroy local economies — especially small businesses — the longer it goes.

“Come this Friday, we plan on opening because we’ve been getting hundreds of emails, text messages and phone calls that these business owners are on the brink of closing down,” Daniel Camp III, the Republican chairman of the Beaver County Board of Commissioners, told a state Senate hearing Wednesday.

Beaver County, home to a severe nursing home outbreak, said it plans to operate as if Wolf had already lifted restrictions there, meaning residents can freely leave their homes and retailers, offices and other kinds of businesses can reopen. Because of the outbreak, Beaver is the lone western Pennsylvania county that remains locked down.

Columbia County, meanwhile, voted Wednesday to join Beaver and other counties that plan to lift Wolf’s stay-at-home orders and allow nonessential businesses to reopen Friday without his blessing. Columbia said its coronavirus numbers have been inflated by reporting irregularities, and accused the governor’s office of failing to communicate why it hasn’t been allowed to emerge from some pandemic restrictions.

But Columbia’s resolution also warned businesses reopening in defiance of the state shutdown that they do so at their own peril, noting the county “cannot protect county businesses and individuals” from state retaliation. Wolf has said that businesses that open without his permission jeopardize professional and business licenses, certificates of occupancy and insurance policies.