Sep 21, 2020 2 min read

Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday vetoed a bill that would have stripped him of authority to limit crowd sizes at high school sporting events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

House Bill 2787, which has bipartisan support in the state House and Senate, would place that authority in the hands of local school boards, drawing ire Monday from Wolf, who set the outdoor crowd limit at 250 people.

“I’m always amazed at politicians thinking that they can somehow wave a magic wand and suspend sort of reality,” Wolf said, adding that the coronavirus loves large crowds.

“This bill is entirely unnecessary,” Wolf said in a news release issued Monday evening. “While I recommended against holding school sports before January 2021, it was a recommendation and neither an order nor a mandate. Local school governing bodies have maintained the authority to decide how extracurricular activities, including school sports, proceed at the local level. Furthermore, to the extent COVID-19 cases may rise and spread during the fall and through the upcoming cold and flu season, the Department of Health must maintain the critical authority to limit exposure to COVID-19. Minimizing this exposure is paramount.”

The Legislature appears to have the votes to override the veto of the bill authored by state Rep. Mike Reese, R-Westmoreland.

More than 8,000 Pennsylvanians have died from the virus since March after 48 new deaths were reported in the state Sunday and Monday. There were 967 new cases of the disease reported over two days, taking the statewide total to 150,812.

There were no new deaths from the virus reported Monday in Washington, Greene, Fayette and Allegheny counties.

There were seven new cases reported Monday in Greene, taking its total to 176. Washington County added 4 new cases to its total of 1,284. Fayette’s total climbed to 773 after three new cases of the virus were announced.