'We Can Do It Safely': As Pressure Mounts, Allegheny Co. Officials Discussing Loosening Coronavirus Shutdown Measures
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- As social distancing measures have helped keep coronavirus numbers low in the area, Gov. Tom Wolf is facing pressure to loosen restrictions on businesses.
Little's Shoes, which is usually bustling with springtime shoppers, is now eerily vacant.
Owner Justin Segal believes it doesn't have to be this way and would very much like to open his doors.
KDKA's Andy Sheehan: You believe you can do it safely?
Segal: Oh, I know we can do it safely.
Like other small business owners, Segal believes that with measures like limiting people in the store, requiring employees to wear masks and maintaining social distance, he could successfully reopen — especially here in the Pittsburgh region where these measures have paid off so far.
"Beginning of May, if we stay on the track we're on where we're dropping in cases, we should be able to open before other cities that are having a tougher time," Segal said.
To which Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said: "I think we can move in that direction and I think, hopefully in the coming weeks, we'll be able to put a plan out there that will do just that."
The pleas of business owners haven't fallen on deaf ears.
There is increasing pressure on Gov. Wolf to begin loosening restrictions on things like construction and car sales.
Fitzgerald says there are ongoing discussions about other measures to reopen businesses, especially on this end of the state.
"We hope that there could be some easing of certain operations, certain facilities and maybe some businesses that have proven to be safe, that people are confident that they could be done safely," Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald says Allegheny County is ahead of the curve in things like contract tracing and contacting people who've come in contact with an infected person.
"We want to keep those numbers low so if we do start to relax things in the next month, we certainly want to keep doing the testing, we certainly want to keep the data so if this does go the other way, we may have to clamp down on it again," Fitzgerald said.
