PA House GOP members positive for COVID, kept it secret

[redheadbaker]

The PA House has been the most active state legislature during the pandemic as members of GOP brought bills to overturn state shelter in place orders, arguing that it's safe to reopen the state, while members of the party tested positive for COVID and kept it a secret from other House members, endangering immunocompromised House members and their families. 

Warning for strong language. 

www.facebook.com/brian.k.sims/videos/683102628927090/?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBU92jNTEXl65ZjwDjytrjhwxM-LVfS1cb-B5sDELLZlDiLCrV4nuL1KToaPGrtUFoYa77a9I95oKqQe7atbYVqxkAxIO0fQ6xVYA0Df2-tOgdRCvJ73raTueZ2RcO4iFH-RjfqRCQy1gOdNO3EjK8Y5u9Qeui6ceYFq9oK_3nq1VELJTPcMuEUWwqB5KMELSml-6yCV7cZLZkaDL2kG3a9qoUOjrOezqIbVXtQOwRCEnrqq8DrUwXBI6sWvueIMjdKf1TSsIwK5RHLwpc9XMVE7Fqts7RZw-NuR67WvYZ0LRoYCQwoic_kA00lvxkQII-D5CheHitk0XpFVuh1r2TskDhSrHk&__tn__=H-R

[mcsangel2]

Like, is ANYONE surprised by this? I figured that any republican at any level of government who gets it, would try to hide it.

[isabel]

I was listening to NPR yesterday and they said the house was in session. 100% of democrats were wearing masks and less than half of republicans were. They don't give a fuck.

[erbear]

Fuck that. 

I love Brian Sims. I heard him speak once at a gun rally and fell in love.

[bugandbibs]

Where was the county health department? They should have enforced a quarantine and done the contact tracing. This is such a callous disregard for human life.

[susquehanna]

May 27, 2020 22:15:48 GMT -5 bugandbibs said:

Where was the county health department? They should have enforced a quarantine and done the contact tracing. This is such a callous disregard for human life.

I'm from Western Pennsylvania. Anyone out there, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that contact tracing is a "thing" that's "being done" in Pennsylvania. I saw on the Pittsburgh news that the (Democrat) governor is going to recruit people to train as contact tracers, but I haven't actually heard about this being done yet (in any substantial way) in Pennsylvania.

Has anyone else heard any differently in regards to Pennsylvania?

Again, this is just my impression from what I learned from the local Pittsburgh news.

Also, Harrisburg / Dauphin County is in the semi-center of the southern part of the state (Pittsburgh is in the West and Philadelphia is in the East) and I am under the impression that it is slightly more Republican in politics than it is Democrat. Two of the county commissioners are Republicans, and the third one is a Democrat. I learned from Wikipedia that all of the row offices are occupied by Republicans. 

This is just my impression. I was born in this area and i lived in the area until I was 7, but then my family moved away. So, I welcome any corrections from anyone who knows more about Dauphin County than I do. 

[waverly]

I feel like contact tracing is not being done most places. They don’t have the staffing to keep up with the number of cases. Our state is trying to hire a bunch of tracers which means that they didn’t have enough people doing it. When you keep it a secret you keep on spreading it.

[basilosaurus]

May 27, 2020 21:52:49 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Like, is ANYONE surprised by this? I figured that any republican at any level of government who gets it, would try to hide it.

Conversely, I wouldn't be surprised if some lied that they did have it but no one noticed because it's nbd. Dead people are a fake news myth.

[linus]

May 28, 2020 19:06:21 GMT -5 susquehanna said:

May 27, 2020 22:15:48 GMT -5 bugandbibs said:

Where was the county health department? They should have enforced a quarantine and done the contact tracing. This is such a callous disregard for human life.

I'm from Western Pennsylvania. Anyone out there, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that contact tracing is a "thing" that's "being done" in Pennsylvania. I saw on the Pittsburgh news that the (Democrat) governor is going to recruit people to train as contact tracers, but I haven't actually heard about this being done yet (in any substantial way) in Pennsylvania.

Has anyone else heard any differently in regards to Pennsylvania?

Again, this is just my impression from what I learned from the local Pittsburgh news.

Also, Harrisburg / Dauphin County is in the semi-center of the southern part of the state (Pittsburgh is in the West and Philadelphia is in the East) and I am under the impression that it is slightly more Republican in politics than it is Democrat. Two of the county commissioners are Republicans, and the third one is a Democrat. I learned from Wikipedia that all of the row offices are occupied by Republicans. 

This is just my impression. I was born in this area and i lived in the area until I was 7, but then my family moved away. So, I welcome any corrections from anyone who knows more about Dauphin County than I do. 

Only 6 counties and 4 municipalities in PA have local health departments, the rest of the state is served only by the state DOH. I know Bucks has a decent contract tracing program going on and MontCo is ramping up (ETA: spelling) their program. I don’t know think there is a lot of contract tracing going on in the state beyond that.

[Deleted]

May 29, 2020 6:52:27 GMT -5 linus said:

May 28, 2020 19:06:21 GMT -5 susquehanna said:

I'm from Western Pennsylvania. Anyone out there, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that contact tracing is a "thing" that's "being done" in Pennsylvania. I saw on the Pittsburgh news that the (Democrat) governor is going to recruit people to train as contact tracers, but I haven't actually heard about this being done yet (in any substantial way) in Pennsylvania.

Has anyone else heard any differently in regards to Pennsylvania?

Again, this is just my impression from what I learned from the local Pittsburgh news.

Also, Harrisburg / Dauphin County is in the semi-center of the southern part of the state (Pittsburgh is in the West and Philadelphia is in the East) and I am under the impression that it is slightly more Republican in politics than it is Democrat. Two of the county commissioners are Republicans, and the third one is a Democrat. I learned from Wikipedia that all of the row offices are occupied by Republicans. 

This is just my impression. I was born in this area and i lived in the area until I was 7, but then my family moved away. So, I welcome any corrections from anyone who knows more about Dauphin County than I do. 

Only 6 counties and 4 municipalities in PA have local health departments, the rest of the state is served only by the state DOH. I know Bucks has a decent contract tracing program going on and MontCo is ramping up (ETA: spelling) their program. I don’t know think there is a lot of contract tracing going on in the state beyond that.

That is correct. Also, Delco doesn't have their own, but Chester County has been "sharing" theirs during the Pandemic, but Delco is very much a county of conspiracy theorists who think this is all a hoax while their numbers continue to go up, so..... I'm in MontCo and they were doing contact tracing in the beginning, but once it got to the point of community spread, they pretty much stopped, but like you said, are ramping it back up again. 

[aliciabella]

May 27, 2020 21:52:49 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Like, is ANYONE surprised by this? I figured that any republican at any level of government who gets it, would try to hide it.

Let me guess, fucking racist Tommey was one of them?

[susquehanna]

May 29, 2020 15:54:03 GMT -5 aliciabella said:

May 27, 2020 21:52:49 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Like, is ANYONE surprised by this? I figured that any republican at any level of government who gets it, would try to hide it.

Let me guess, fucking racist Tommey was one of them?

I realize that you're being facetious because Pat Toomey is a (junior) United States Senator from Pennsylvania, and this article was actually about the PA state legislature. 

However, it's interesting that you bring the Senate up, the other U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (the senior Senator and the Democrat), Bob Casey, announced that he tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies and that he self-quarantined in April when he didn't feel well. 


www.politico.com/news/2020/05/29/bob-casey-tests-positive-coronavirus-antibodies-288843