State, local officials remind everyone to wear a mask

On Tuesday, state and federal officials — including  Chester County legislator — joined Gov. Tom Wolf in reminding Pennsylvanians to wear a mask to reduce the likelihood of spreading COVID-19. “As we increasingly resume public activities in our commonwealth, we need to remain vigilant about taking precautions, especially wearing a mask that covers our noses and mouths while around other people,”...

Wolf was right; early reopening is killing people & the economy elsewhere

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa A few weeks back, I wrote a column suggesting that the people of Chester County be careful, listen to health experts, wear a mask, wash their hands frequently and continue social distancing as we worked through the process to reopen our county and state, carefully, and slowly. And while it is clear most of the residents in the county agreed — we continue...

Wolf broadens rules for wearing masks

By Mike McGann, Editor The Times @mikemcgannpa Gov. Tom Wolf has a simple message for Pennsylvanians: if you’re not home, wear a mask. Always. Wolf expanded his order on masks Wednesday to include pretty much every activity outside of the home with an eye on slowing the spread of COVID-19, which experienced its highest rate of new cases in the US ever on Wednesday — and alarming growth in Allegheny...

Just because we made it to Green, doesn’t mean the fight against COVID-19 is over

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa If everything goes as planned, Chester County will move to Green Status next Friday, the final phase of social and business limitations intended to halt the spread of COVID-19. I think we can both be excited and proud of this fact. For the most part, people in this county listened to local and state officials, played it carefully, stayed home as much...

Continuing the conversation about race

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa Like it or not, we need to keep talking about race. While the killing of George Floyd was the straw that broke the camel’s back, the rising level of anger over racism has been growing for years. Since Donald Trump’s election, those who hate on the basis of skin color seem to feel like they have been given a green light to openly express their racism....

As Chester County moves toward Yellow, let’s all be smart about COVID-19

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa So, on June 5, Chester County moves to Yellow status. Obviously, it is good news. It means some of our businesses will reopen and some of our people will go back to work. In some ways, life will go back to something approaching normal. It appears the county will go to Green status by the end of next month — meaning even more things will open, including...

‘Open’ advocates want to kill your small business

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa This week, three Republican state legislators called on Gov. Tom Wolf to begin to reopen Chester County. To say it was an exercise in political hackery — and moronic — is likely an understatement. And yes, it is being orchestrated by President Donald Trump, whose mishandling of the pandemic cost thousands of lives, millions of jobs and will result...

COVID-19 Update, May 13: State officials remind shoppers to wear masks to protect essential workers

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa Although the number of new COVID-19 cases in the commonwealth — and Chester County — appears to be shrinking, state officials are reminding residents to continue to be patient as the state works through the crisis. One area in particular is anger that seems to be being vented at workers at grocery stores and other essential retailers when employees...