I am extremely disappointed with Governor Carney’s decision to not implement Phase 3 of the state’s COVID-19 re-opening plan.
Small businesses are suffering and a record number of Delawareans are receiving unemployment benefits, not due to a negative fluctuation in the market, but because the governor ordered the economy to shut down via executive order.
In late April and early May, small business owners participated in a series of virtual town halls in which they laid out safety plans they would put in place, all without government mandate. The governor has since adopted many of those ideas and implemented them into modifications to his State of Emergency.
I, and many others, were supportive of his decisions early on because of the great uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and how to control it. We are now six months removed from the initial State of Emergency declaration and we have since learned how to contain the virus and slow its spread. This is supported by the overall lowering percentage of positive tests, the declining fatality rate, and the encouraging announcement on Sunday by the CEO of Beebe Healthcare stating the hospital had zero COVID-19 positive admitted patients during the previous 24 hours. The goal was to flatten the curve and, as Governor Carney noted in today’s press conference, we have.
Governor Carney, it is time to trust Delawareans and begin moving towards a full re-opening. It is time to get our economy and our way of life back on track.
