May 1, 2020 5 min read

Just be patient. That’s what we’re being told. Just be patient.

I recently spoke with a woman concerning her unemployment benefits. Or rather, the lack thereof. She cried while explaining to me that she and her daughter were eating the dog’s food because she had no money to buy groceries. Am I supposed to tell her to be patient?

I also spoke with a small business owner with five employees. All of his employees are laid off, and he has no income. He’s worried that his business won’t be around when we finally open back up. Yet he continues to pay his mortgage and other expenses.

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program authorized by the Federal CARES Act was supposed to help. Unfortunately, small business owners were only able to apply on April 18 with additional weeks to process claims.

Please be patient.

The unemployment system has been riddled with issues under the vast weight of 1.5 million claims. That means that approximately 23% of our population is currently unemployed. We were right around 4% before the shutdowns began. The department of Labor and Industry put out a new form to request a new PIN if you haven’t received one in over three weeks. Our safety nets have failed at the most vital of times.

Let’s stop pretending that everyone is experiencing this crisis in the same manner. It’s not all Zoom calls with a glass of wine and teacher parades, as wonderful as these things are. Real people are suffering. Real people are wondering how they’ll pay for their kids’ next meal. Real people are worried about whether they’ll make it to the so-called “new normal.” They worry about whether their job will still be there to come back to. This type of suffering has nothing to do with the virus itself. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Avik Roy wrote, “Reopening the economy is not merely about livelihoods, but also about lives. All of us can see the mounting mental and emotional toll of our ongoing lockdowns, and we’ve learned a great deal in the recent year about how high unemployment increases deaths of despair.”

Let’s stop pretending that our small businesses and the jobs they bring do not matter. Small businesses account for around 75% of all jobs created in any given year. And we’re crushing them. Big-box stores with hundreds of customers and employees can sell you a bike but the local bike shop cannot. They can sell you shoes but our local shoe store cannot.

On April 22, Gov. Tom Wolf outlined his plan to reopen the commonwealth. For those who missed it, he outlined three color-coded phases. As you can imagine, we are currently in the “red phase.” The yellow phase allows businesses to begin in-person operations while following building and workplace safety orders. Finally, the green phase eases most restrictions by allowing all business to operate if following Centers for Disease Control guidelines. The governor indicated that in order to move to the yellow phase a region must have less than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days. Every county, except Beaver County, in the western half of the state meets this requirement.

Let me be clear. The governor’s stay-at-home order was a necessary step to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but let us not forget the purpose of the lockdown. We did not shelter in our homes for the past six weeks to eradicate the virus. We did it to prevent the overrun of our health system like we saw in Italy. We have accomplished this goal. Our hospitals are not in jeopardy. Our systems are not overwhelmed. Even the hardest hit area of the state, the southeast, did not run out of bed capacity or ventilators.

We must begin the transition to responsibly open our economy. We must begin to resume our lives. The deliberate and intentional opening of businesses that can operate safely under CDC recommendations should be allowed.

We’ve recently seen some acknowledgment from the governor that many businesses are able to operate safely by the opening of construction, golf courses and marinas. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recently announced a plan to reopen completely by the end of May, and Western Pennsylvania should follow suit.

Many are still afraid of the virus, and segments of the population are still at risk. These people should continue to limit contact with others as necessary but choosing between safety and reopening is a false choice. We can do both.

The lives affected by the loss of income are vast and they deserve the dignity of earning their own way. They deserve to have the opportunity to return to work, and we should never hear another story about a family eating dog food because of a decision the government has made. It is time to trust our citizens to act safety and allow our small businesses to operate if able.

Just remember that the people telling us to be patient are still getting paid. I’m tired of being patient.

State Rep. Tim O’Neal represents the 48th Legislative District.