County Council: Now not time to ease up fight vs. coronavirus
Delco Council urges public to stick with virus precautions
MEDIA » With two members in separate locations connected via speaker phone, the other three members of Delaware County Council donned face masks and sat distanced from each other, expressing words of caution to take coronavirus-mitigating measures seriously as numbers continue to rise.
On Thursday, the number of COVID-19 cases reported in Delaware County by the Pennsylvania Department of Health rose to 1,222, including 26 deaths. On Wednesday, Delco had 1,034 cases and 23 deaths. Its first and single case was reported March 6.
The cases have been exponentially increasing daily, even as stay-at-home orders have been put in place, businesses and schools closed down and now, masks being required to be worn in public. On Thursday Gov. Tom Wolf announced all schools in Pennsylvania would remain shut down for the remainder of the academic year.
With no vaccine or cure in place, these mitigation measures are crucial to minimizing the spread of the disease and easing the strain on an already stressed health care system.
Touching the severity of the virus’ reach on humanity, Delaware County Councilman Kevin Madden noted the flags flying at halfstaff at the Government Center.
“They will continue to be for the foreseeable future,” he said, adding that they had been lowered consistent with flags across the state. “I think it’s easy to get numbed by the daily numbers that we’re hitting ... Behind each one of these numbers, there is a family and there are friends who have lost someone important to them. As these wash over us day in and day out, we have to remember just what it is we are fighting and that the unfortunate reality is that these numbers are going to only grow. Regardless of what we do today, they will grow over the next few weeks.”
However, he warned that it’s largely up to the public as to just how bad this situation gets.
“We have an opportunity to keep this as minimal as we possible can,” he said, stressing that all of the guidelines from staying home to wearing masks must continue. “We gotta keep it up, we gotta keep it up. Every single day, we are fighting this invisible enemy to us. It’s so much easier when you see it right in front of you ... but we’re facing this invisible enemy and we’ve got to beat it together and that means doing your part, your personal part.”
That means we all have to do uncomfortable things.
“When you don’t want to put your mask on - I hate this thing,” he said after having worn the mask for two hours during the council meeting. “It’s so tough for me to talk through but I’ve got to make sure I’m doing my part ... We’ve got to keep going.”
Madden noted that Americans are a nation of cynics, perhaps dating back to the 1960’s with the Vietnam War and Watergate eras.
“I think we have lost a trust in government and elected leaders,” he added. “We’ve got to put that aside today and we’ve gotta keep this going. We’ve gotta keep wearing our masks, we gotta keep practicing social distancing because the reality is, that as bad as it looks today, it can be incredibly worse if we let down our guard.”
Delaware County Vice Chairman Dr. Monica Taylor reminded the public that N95 masks are to be reserved for healthcare workers and that the donation of these or other critically needed medical equipment can be arranged by calling the Donation Management Hotline at 1-800-253-3102.
Those who are not health care workers can wear cloth masks and are asked to do so any time they are outside.
“It is important that as many people as possible wear these masks,” she said. “This helps prevent those who may be infectious but are mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic from spreading the virus to others in the community.”
Taylor explained that wearing a mask was not an alternative to staying at home, social distancing or measures such as washing your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, washing frequently used surfaces such as countertops, light switches, cell phones and remotes frequently and coughing or sneezing into your elbow or a tissue.
Delaware County Council Chairman Brian Zidek said the words spoken by former President Ronald Reagan that “government is not the solution, government is not the problem” may not apply to these times.
“We are a nation that was sort of built upon rugged individualism,” he said. “But this crisis shows us that government is needed at times. You can’t, as an individual, make sure that ventilators are appropriately dispersed in hospitals. Individuals can’t figure out how to make sure that there are sufficient N95 masks out there to keep us safe. Individuals can’t help to make sure that we have vaccines that we are working to produce. There is a role for government and this is the role for government.”
He added that he wasn’t sure if the state and federal governments were operating at an optimal way - however, he stressed that Delco is.
“I can tell you that we are doing our level best here in Delaware County to keep our citizens safe,” Zidek said, adding, “It is an interesting time and I think everybody’s view of government may be changed after having gone through this experience.”