PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Pennsylvania will ease some restrictions on building construction and vehicle sales, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday as hundreds of protesters defied a ban on mass gatherings to stage an anti-shutdown rally at the Capitol.
Wolf announced a first, tentative step toward reopening the state’s economy after weeks of social distancing to combat the new virus, which has killed more than 1,200 Pennsylvania residents and sickened more than 33,000.
Wolf said he is signing online-notary legislation that will pave the way for online vehicle sales. And limited building construction work may resume on May 8, he said.
“We are taking small steps toward regaining a degree of normalcy in Pennsylvania,” Wolf said.
As he spoke, protesters gathered outside the state Capitol to demand that Wolf reopen the state’s virus-battered economy.
Flag-waving protesters — some with masks, some without — ignored social distancing guidelines to call on Wolf to end the shutdown of businesses deemed nonessential and to get nearly 1.4 million Pennsylvanians back to work. Others protesters drove around the block, horns blaring.
Kevin Depaulis, 55, a salesman in York Springs who expects to lose 40% of his income this year, said he was rallying to “end this nonsense,” adding that it should be up to local leaders to decide whether it’s safe for businesses to reopen.
Some GOP lawmakers also attended the protest outside the Capitol, which was organized or promoted by several groups that recently popped up on Facebook, including one connected to a low-profile gun-rights group. It was one of several similar protests in state capitals around the nation.
Wolf and his health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, have said that protesters would risk spreading the virus by gathering.
Meanwhile, both chambers of the Republican-controlled Legislature were planning to return to session as Republicans push legislation that would take away some of Wolf’s power to determine which businesses must remain closed during the coronavirus pandemic. Wolf, a Democrat, has said he will veto one bill sent to him last week and another that is expected to win House passage as early as Monday.
