Guy Ciarrocchi’s column on getting back to work hits the mark

I couldn’t agree more with Guy Ciarrocchi’s Guest Column, “It’s Time To Get Chester County Residents Back To Work.” (DLN, May 3, 2020, Page A5) My entire family has learned to practice strict social distancing techniques and abide by the stay-at-home order that is in effect to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

While I remain very concerned for everyone who has, or will contract this virus, at the same time, I am terrified with what Governor Wolf’s stay-at-home order and business shutdown policies are doing to our local, county, regional, state and national economies. When he announced the new color-coded phase system for reopening our commonwealth’s businesses, I felt that it was very unfair to include Chester County with the other collar counties that surround Philadelphia.

While I feel very fortunate to work in an industry deemed essential and lifesustaining, many of my clients, friends and neighbors include several small business owners based in Chester County. They and their employees are hurting and need to get back to work as soon as it safe to do so. If not, I believe that we will not only fall into an economic recession, but possibly a depression.

As a Republican Committeeman, I admit that I was somewhat suspect that sitting down to actually write to a letter to a Governor whose campaign I did not support would be worthwhile. I decided to do it anyway. In my letter, I simply highlighted how I felt that his process for reopening Pennsylvania’s businesses “region by region” was blatantly unfair.

When analyzing the commonwealth’s 67 county’s COVID-19 data metrics, I made the point that including Chester County with the other collar counties surrounding Philadelphia (Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery) was discriminatory to Chester County’s small business community as a whole. As of today, Chester County has a significantly lower COVID-19 data metrics, even lower than our adjacent western neighbors of Lancaster and Berks Counties.

To my delight, a few days after receipt of my letter, Governor Wolf announced that he would reverse his decision to reopen Pennsylvania’s businesses “region by region” and now do it on a “county by county” basis. Consider my experience a lesson to your readers...if you are ever in doubt of the effectiveness of writing to politicians, take a lesson from Nike and “JUST DO IT!” Bill Tickner Willistown Township 16 Fairview Road (The writer is a member of the Republican Committee of Chester County)