Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Pennsylvania’s newspapers:
Tuition lawsuits misguided
Altoona Mirror
April 28
During their future career choices and work lives, most of today’s college students will be confronted with unexpected, challenging circumstances that they will need to manage and navigate, using their best judgment, talents and instincts.
Unfortunately, they now are being forced to experience an early crash course in that, the result of the tragic coronavirus pandemic.
That being acknowledged, some people across America might be questioning the thinking of college students who have launched an effort to recover spring tuition, room and board and fees because their schools closed and moved classes online - actionss that most people judge as having been correct.
Still, the moves of some schools are not beyond second-guessing, particularly those in early hot-spot areas that sent their students home, not realizing the potential devastating effect on parents and grandparents, if those students had been exposed to the virus and suddenly were being required to take that exposure home.
According to an article in the April 11-12 edition of the Wall Street Journal, students have filed lawsuits against Drexel University and the University of Miami - filings aimed at becoming class actions - claiming that the schools are failing to give them the educational experience they paid for, one with in-person instruction.
While the students seemingly have grounds for pursuing refunds for room and board, they shouldn’t be pursuing return of tuition money, at least from schools where professors have been proactive in providing the best educational experience possible within the challenges that the coronavirus has inflicted.
Some in the higher-education community lament that there are professors who have chosen not to provide lectures online - choosing, instead, just to email students - thus possibly lessening students’ learning opportunities.
Those critics probably are right in judging reduced contact as counterproductive.
Nevertheless, the availability of online classes in whatever form has continued to allow students to move closer to graduation. Opponents of what is happening at Drexel and Miami might wonder if the students would prefer “erasing” their spring classes until the closings cease - extending the length of their college careers and delaying their entry into the workforce.
Special circumstances require understanding, flexibility and extra effort. Concern is reasonable regarding the ultimate financial impact on colleges in much of the nation if they have to mount costly defenses against class-action lawsuit filings.
The Journal article points out that “attorneys who represent universities say schools refusing to reimburse tuition is rooted in firm legal ground: By continuing to hold classes for credit remotely, they are fulfilling the terms of their contract.”
The article quotes James Keller, co-chairman of the higher-education practice at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP in Philadelphia, where Drexel is located, who said, “The students are going to have an uphill battle unless a school has actually shut down and they’re not getting credit.”
These times are demanding adaptation in this country to a degree not witnessed since World War II. Unfortunately, the education community at all levels has not been spared.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, all schools will have the opportunity to judge their performance during this terrible time.
While students have the right to pursue reasonable reimbursement for what they haven’t received, they must not be unreasonable in what they demand.
Online: https://bit.ly/2VKAEKG
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Police need safety gear, not names
Erie Times-News
April 28
The COVID-19 pandemic forces the balancing of competing interests on an unwelcome host of fronts.
It is the choice between the economy and deplorable death tolls; freedom of movement versus the need to protect others.
In Erie County, another difficult conflict has surfaced: How to balance police officers’ need to know the names of COVID-19 patients against stricken individuals’ right to privacy.
A dispute between local police and Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper and the Erie County Department of Health has escalated into court action. Two Erie County police unions want a judge to order the county to share the names of COVID-19 patients with the 911 center so that dispatchers can alert police officers if they encounter infected individuals. That way officers would know, Erie Police Chief Dan Spizarny said, if they should immediately “decontaminate.”
The unions, representing officers in Erie and surrounding departments, charge that the county, by failing to release the information, is failing its duty to protect the police and the public from COVID-19 spread. We agree that if police officers fall ill, that would be very troubling, in addition to the danger reduced ranks could pose to public safety.
Police officers don’t have the luxury of working from home, but must engage the public in order to continue to protect and serve the rest of us. In places where the pandemic is more severe, some have lost their lives.
Those interests are strong, clearly, but not the only ones in play.
As reporter Ed Palattella detailed, state and federal law allow the release of patients’ names under some conditions, and some states, including Ohio, release the information. But the law also, as Erie County Solicitor Richard Perhacs said, gives county health officials the power to make that call and encourages the release of the minimum necessary information.
Here we think county officials have exercised discretion appropriately.
Police have notice of potential COVID-19 danger because health officials provide 911 dispatchers with the addresses of locations where COVID-19 patients are serving their mandated quarantines. If those patients violate quarantine, they stand to lose their liberty and be placed in self-isolation at a location of the court’s choosing.
With those safeguards, and given Erie County’s relatively low patient count, we agree with Perhacs that the likelihood that police will unwittingly encounter a diagnosed COVID-19 patient on the street is remote.
Instead, as Dahlkemper has said, police should be treating everyone they encounter as a potential coronavirus carrier, given community spread of the disease. COVID-19 symptoms might take days to manifest or never manifest at all.
One officer told our reporters that the police don’t have enough protective equipment to wear on every call. Better if all involved worked together to remedy that dangerous shortfall.
Online: https://bit.ly/35rk9Xj
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3 things Gov. Wolf should do in the next phase of the coronavirus fight
Harrisburg Patriot News/Pennlive.com
April 24
By and large, Gov. Tom Wolf and Dr. Rachel Levine should be commended for their hard work in leading efforts in the commonwealth to combat the coronavirus. Both have inspired confidence and trust in Pennsylvanians battling anxiety and frustration as the death toll mounts and their bank accounts decrease.
But we are compelled to warn of clear signs of trouble ahead. People now out of work are growing angrier and angrier at not getting unemployment checks. And what is worse, many can’t get anyone to answer the phone at the office that’s supposed to handle their complaints.
Business people are complaining they don’t understand how the governor is making up the rules on which of them are essential and which must remain closed to contain the spread of the virus.
And media organizations, including ours, are growing more and more alarmed that reporters can’t ask their own questions in a meeting with the governor and the secretary, and be able to follow up if the answers aren’t clear. It’s just not the same thing to have the press secretary select questions and then move on to the next, whatever the answer.
We understand this has been an unprecedented emergency where all previous rules were off the table.
We understand days have been long and every minute has counted as officials try to understand the nature of the beast and how to deal with it.
And we understand reporters can ask lots of questions.
But this governor and his team pledged to be open and transparent. Press conferences are good, but they’re only as good as the freedom allowed the press to respectfully ask probing questions and pursue factual answers.
We have no doubt about the commitment of the governor and his team to do all within their power to protect Pennsylvanians and to limit the number of people who die from COVID-19. We know they are working hard against incredible odds. And we know they are well up to the challenge that has impacted all aspects of our lives.
But unless the governor and his team recommit to direct engagement with the media - within health and safety protocols - they risk undermining the very foundation they need to combat this virus – the trust and confidence of the people.
We urge Gov. Wolf, Secretary Levine as well as all of the appropriate members of his administration to take these three concrete steps as we move to the next stage of the coronavirus battle:
Get state employees to answer the phone, do internet chats or at least accept emails from people wanting information about their unemployment checks. No one should have to call days on end without getting through.
Let reporters ask their own questions at press briefings, allowing at least one follow-up question, if needed. Closed circuit teleconferences or strategically spaced seating could help address safety concerns.
Work with business as well as medical professionals to ensure their input in drafting re-opening guidelines for Pennsylvania. We don’t need to follow Washington’s guidance, as some have suggested, but we should respond to the valid concerns of businesses in our own state.
“I am proud of Gov. Tom Wolf and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.,” wrote Kimberly Miller of Harrisburg in a letter to the editor. “I trust Governor Wolf to do what is right. “
We trust the same, and vow to do our part to help move him in that direction.
Online: https://bit.ly/2SzuHyn
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Pa. health department webpage isn’t about ‘snitching’ - it’s about ensuring the health of workers amid a pandemic
LNP
April 28
The Pennsylvania Department of Health launched a webpage last week that allows workers to complain online about employers who fail to provide masks, practice social distancing or clean their workplaces to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the highly infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus. As of Thursday, it had received more than 1,200 complaints, which likely included some prank reports. As LNP ’ LancasterOnline’s Brad Bumsted reported, critics call the webpage a “snitch portal.”
Republican Rep. Aaron Bernstine of Lawrence County told Bumsted he was “disappointed” by the state health department’s complaint webpage.
“I’m 35 years old and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Bernstine said.
OK, millennial.
We’d say Rep. Bernstine should get out more, but Pennsylvania remains under a stay-at-home order. So we’d suggest that he try Google.
Because apparently, in his 35 years, he hasn’t heard about the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to which employees can complain about workplace safety hazards.
Or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to which employees can complain about workplace discrimination.
Both government agencies have online complaint forms. Both take complaints from both government and private-sector workers.
A government entity offering workers a means of filing complaints isn’t unusual at all. And countless businesses have their own employee hotlines and online complaint forms.
But Republican state Sen. Scott Martin of Martic Township called the state health department’s webpage a “gotcha” tool that allows “citizens to tattle-tale” on each other.
“I think it was a big mistake to create this kind of page,” Martin said.
If this were a webpage via which neighbors could complain about other neighbors allowing, for instance, their kids to play at the nearby playground despite the statewide stay-at-home order, we could see Martin’s point. (Such a website exists, actually. It’s called Facebook.)
But the state webpage is aimed at protecting the health and safety of workers - and, by extension, the public - amid a deadly pandemic.
If employers are dismissing state guidelines about social distancing, workplace cleaning and mask-wearing, what do we expect their employees to do? Keep their heads down and keep working, no matter the risks to them and the business’s customers?
Failing to provide them with the means through which they can report safety failings would send a clear signal that no one cares about their health. The message: “Sorry, folks. You may need to go to work every day despite the risks. A virus may be seeking every vulnerable target. But you’re on your own.”
Referring to the Department of Health webpage, Republican state Rep. Andrew Lewis of Dauphin County said, “This is not how America operates. This is ludicrous.”
Actually, protecting workers is the best of American practices. It is what distinguishes us from countries where horrifically dangerous working conditions are allowed to persist.
As the OSHA website states, “Under federal law, you are entitled to a safe workplace. Your employer must provide a workplace free of known health and safety hazards. If you have concerns, you have the right to speak up about them without fear of retaliation.”
COVID-19 is a new workplace health hazard.
There will be a lot of discussion moving forward about how employers can ensure the safety and well-being of their employees. We are confident that most employers will want to keep their workers safe, not just because they have a moral and legal obligation to do so, but because they value their employees as human beings.
But in the rush to adjust to this strange new reality we’re in, some businesses may make missteps. We hope companies will be given an opportunity to correct their mistakes before they are penalized.
“While it is not our intent to punish businesses, enforcement agencies are to begin enforcing the order with warnings for noncompliant businesses, before moving to more significant enforcement if warranted,” Nate Wardle, a spokesman for the state health department, told LNP ’ LancasterOnline’s Bumsted.
That seems reasonable. Businesses that repeatedly refuse to comply ought to face some penalty. Because the aim here is worker health. And customer health. The two are generally intertwined.
A business that doesn’t cut corners on employee safety isn’t likely to cut corners on customer safety either. A masked, socially distancing worker is going to have safer interactions with customers.
We’ve been disappointed by the state Department of Health’s lack of transparency on COVID-19 data - and its refusal to comply with Right-to-Know requests during the pandemic. We also were appalled by its requirement that counties and emergency responders sign nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements before it will provide them with the addresses of residents infected with the novel coronavirus.
But complaining about a webpage aimed at ensuring worker safety and calling it a “gotcha” tool and “snitch portal”?
Lawmakers, it seems, are seizing every opportunity to criticize the Wolf administration’s response to COVID-19. Some of their criticisms have merit. But they should choose their battles more wisely.
Online: https://bit.ly/2YjBDDc
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Crowded public places will prolong the pandemic
The Philadelphia Inquirer
April 29
From Rittenhouse Square to the Belmont Plateau to the Jersey Shore, locally beloved destinations promise escape for people confined by stay-at-home and other coronavirus-inspired restrictions. But the COVID-19 pandemic’s realities are inescapable: Infections may have reached an initial peak in Philly, but there’s still not yet enough testing, no effective treatment, and no vaccine. Nor are there immediate plans to lift, let alone eliminate, social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines anywhere in the region.
With weather warming and summer coming, the debate about access to the region’s natural assets is likely to grow more heated. Just as businesses are putting pressure on government officials to reopen states, people are likely to pressure those officials, especially in New Jersey, to reopen natural assets like parks and beaches. While access to open spaces can have positive mental health benefits, Pennsylvania and New Jersey must recognize the potential risks of undoing weeks of social distancing - and also recognize how imperfect human nature can be.
Case in point: the crowds enjoying Rittenhouse Square last weekend. People without masks presumably wouldn’t dream of spitting in each other’s coffee - but there they were, basically spitting in each other’s faces while sharing blankets and benches under the square’s stately trees. Bad enough they were endangering each other’s health; they also could be endangering access to the square itself.
In New Jersey, after numerous police reports of large crowds gathering in parks across the state, Gov. Phil Murphy closed all state and county parks on April 7. On Monday, in announcing a six-step “Road Back” plan to restart the Garden State’s economy, he declined to say when parks would reopen. That decision will depend on whether New Jersey residents continue to wear masks when outdoors or in stores, he said.
Murphy also said he wants to see the Shore “humming all summer” - visitors spent nearly $43 billion there in 2017 but did not predict a wholesale return of businesses and beaches anytime soon. And while the governor wants New Jersey “to be in harmony” with nearby states, efforts may vary. While that’s understandable, city park advocates say New Jersey residents already are crossing the bridges to access Philadelphia parks, especially Penn’s Landing. Earlier this month, Wissahickon Valley Park was reporting record crowds, including from outside the city.
However, the city should pursue innovative ways to avoid having to close popular places like Rittenhouse and Belmont or be forced to invest in expensive new infrastructure and enforcement efforts.
Expanding the city’s popular “Philly Free Streets” program could help. Temporarily limiting vehicular traffic on certain blocks and neighborhoods would draw upon the city’s long tradition of closing blocks for special purposes, and release the strain on the rest of the city’s park system.
Summer is coming, and the pressure to open the Shore, relax guidelines, and lift restrictions won’t be going away. Officials should be prepared to communicate clearly and frequently about criteria for keeping natural assets open and be prepared to shut them down if people don’t use them safely. A warm sunny day can be irresistible to those cooped up at home - but it shouldn’t be a health hazard.
Online: https://bit.ly/35ftUYl
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