Pennsylvania Democrat Senate candidate John Fetterman hypocritically wanted indefinite pandemic lockdowns.
In an interview with John King on CNN on April 17, 2020, John Fetterman proposed that Pennsylvania should not lift pandemic restrictions, despite breaking the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s rules and going on vacation months later.
“It wants to spread and what we’ve done in Pennsylvania through the governor’s aggressive stay-at-home orders has really stopped that, and I believe we’re plateaued. But we are weeks away from any kind of major announcement opening — if at all,” Fetterman said in a video unearthed by the Republican National Committee (emphasis added).
Many Pennsylvania businesses were locked down until 2021. “Broad reopenings or reopening that are not structured around ongoing social distancing, universal masking, or other public health guidance would likely result in a spike of cases and new stay-at-home and closure orders,” Gov. Tom Wolf (D) stated in November 2020. “We are planning for the days and weeks ahead when we will not only safely return Pennsylvanians to work but return to a different and more resilient Pennsylvania.”
On July 16, 2020, Fetterman suggested on CNN that schools would likely not reopen anytime soon and if they did, children should be masked in order to attend school. “If you are a parent that wants to safely reopen schools, then it all comes back to what you’re willing to do — and that’s masking, masking, masking,” Fetterman claimed.
In April 2020, Gov. Wolf closed schools for the remainder of the academic year. Schools had been closed indefinitely from March 16, prior to the announcement. At the beginning of the school year, Burbio reported a majority of schools were using virtual or hybrid learning (not in-person learning) in Pennsylvania.
The state’s mask mandate was not removed until January 2021. It was reinstated in all Pennsylvania K-12 schools in June 2021 due to Wolf’s orders after statewide teachers’ unions demanded masks in school buildings:
Like so many other Democrats, the pandemic rules did not apply to Fetterman, who enjoyed a taxpayer-funded trip to New Jersey in June 2020. At the time, the Pennsylvania Department of Health was recommending that Pennsylvanians remain locked down.
But Fetterman took a $3,500 trip to New Jersey, instead. “Pennsylvania state police spent $3,500 for overtime, food, and lodging during Fetterman’s trip to Ocean City, N.J., from June 24-27, 2020,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Polling shows Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz has pulled within the margin of error against Fetterman, despite being outspent by $5 million, according to third quarter fundraising totals.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.