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Pandemic Pushback: Duquesne University Professors Say These Disagreements Are Nothing New

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Over the past week, officials in several local counties have pushed back against Governor Tom Wolf's reopening plan.

According to Duquesne University history professor Andrew Simpson, pushback during a pandemic is not a new concept.

"Even in Pittsburgh 100 years ago, we actually saw tension between the State Commissioner of Public Health and the mayor over when it was time to reopen," Simpson said.

That was during the 1918 influenza epidemic that killed an estimated 675,000 Americans, according to the CDC.

Simpson says it seems a similar conflict between public health and economics has resurfaced.

"One of the things that public health crises often expose are the questions that we don't answer in our system when everybody's healthy," he said.

As the pandemic continues to unfold, so do tensions between local and state officials.

Several local district attorneys have promised not to prosecute businesses that open against the governor's orders.

According to Duquesne University law professor Bruce Ledewitz, Gov. Wolf's orders still take precedence, despite the district attorneys' promises.

"The State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has upheld the power of the governor to issue these orders," he said.

The governor has warned businesses that open early face consequences like losing any state-issued license.

He has also threatened to withhold federal aid from counties who defy his orders, but Ledewitz says that would be complicated.

"He has standing to try to do that," he said. "I'm not certain he has the authority to do that. That will be litigated if he tries to actually do that."

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