Selfish people ruined the party in Pittsburgh. Let’s not let that happen here.
Not even a month after Allegheny County went “green” and reopened bars and restaurants for indoor dining and drinking, county officials are putting a cork in alcohol sales there because of a sudden increase in coronavirus cases.
Officials said crowded bars contributed to the spike, along with vacations to hot spots such as Florida, Texas and Carolina beaches. So starting at happy hour time Tuesday, alcohol can’t be served at restaurants or bars and will be limited to takeout only. Food sales will continue, with seating limited to half of capacity.
The Lehigh Valley has been green only since Friday. It likely will be at least a week until we know whether cases will jump here, too, because people have been behaving badly.
We should consider what happened in Pittsburgh to be a warning of what could happen if we don’t keep our heads.
That means keeping our distance from others when in public, even in bars and restaurants; wearing masks unless health reasons make that harmful, or we’re eating; and cooperating with contact tracers.
Wearing masks in the heat isn’t comfortable. Wearing one at a bar when you’re not raising your glass or bottle to your lips may not be cool. But it’s the right thing to do.
Refusing to wear a mask because you refuse to let the government order you what to do doesn’t make you a hero. It makes you selfish. The statement you’re making is you don’t care if you infect others, including the bartenders, food servers, store clerks, mechanics, contractors, barbers and others you’re relying on to meet your needs.
A disturbing report from Spotlight PA last week showed contact tracers in some parts of the state, including the Lehigh Valley, are having a terrible time getting sick people to hand over their contacts, and getting contacts to respond to their warnings.
Only 42% of the contacts of infected people who tested positive at Lehigh Valley Health Network facilities have been able to be traced because many of the sick aren’t sharing that information with LVHN, according to Spotlight PA.
When patients provide the names, sometimes those people refuse to respond when they are called to be warned they’ve been exposed. Spotlight PA said Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health in Lancaster County has been able to reach only 58% of people identified as contacts.
That stubbornness isn’t going to help the Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania as we try to get back to some semblance of normalcy.
It’s only going to allow the coronavirus to spread. If people who may have the illness aren’t told because they weren’t named as a contact and didn’t get a warning, they can pass it on unknowingly if they don’t show symptoms.
If people are warned and disregard the warning, possibly spreading their germs, that’s worse.
Fortunately, people in Allentown seem to have gotten the message and are cooperating, said Vicky Kistler, the city’s health director.
She estimated 65% to 70% of city residents who are infected are divulging their contacts, a rate she considers positive. She said the city added five more contact tracers Monday.
Kistler cautioned, though, that health authorities have no way of knowing how truthful people are. They may divulge some contacts but not others. They may say they are isolating for two weeks because they were exposed, when they really aren’t.
Please be truthful.
And cut some slack to people who are infected or who are isolating because they were exposed. They don’t want to be missing work, family events and other commitments. They’re missing them to protect you — their co-workers, relatives and friends.
The more opportunities there are for the virus to spread, the more difficult it will be for society to avoid setbacks like what happened in Allegheny County, and to avoid the severe spikes in cases that other parts of the country are suffering.
And as we seek our “new normal,” we all can send a message. Don’t patronize businesses that aren’t operating safely by making employees wear masks and keeping people apart. While the drinkers in the Pittsburgh-area bars weren’t all cautious, the management shares some of the blame for not enforcing rules.
The Allentown Health Department has been getting complaints about restaurants and businesses where staff are not wearing masks, Kistler told me Monday.
“We all have a right to put our foot down or you’re not getting my dollar,” she said.
Coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania were bound to rise as more businesses reopened and as testing increased. So the statewide increases in recent weeks aren’t a surprise, or too alarming. Hospitalization rates still are declining, the state Health Department reported Monday, and the rate of tests that are positive still is low.
But we can’t get complacent. A lot of people in Allegheny County did, and now they’re stuck drinking at home again.
Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick can be reached at 610-820-6582 or paul.muschick@mcall.com
