Lehigh County Commissioners will continue to support Governor Tom Wolf’s opening plans. They refused during an online meeting May 13 to take up a proposal by Republican Commissioner Nathan Brown, who moved a resolution urging commissioners to support State Senator Lisa Boscola’s (D-Northampton-Lehigh County) recent letter to Wolf urging him to move from the coronavirus status Red to Yellow for Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley.

Wolf has already announced the move for 37 of the commonwealth’s 67 counties. Boscola’s recommendation was made, “in consultation with infectious disease specialists at St. Luke’s University Health Network and Lehigh Valley Health Network,” according to Boscola’s site.

The push to move from Red status to Yellow has political support and opposition from both sides of the political aisle in Lehigh County.

Brown’s motion came on the eve of President Donald Trump’s visit to Lehigh County, where he urged citizens to encourage Wolf to reopen the economy.

The other commissioners, six Democrats and two Republicans, did not second the motion, so it died without action.

Professor Robert Hoffman of Fogelsville called into the meeting to urge the commissioners to support the motion. Hoffman said the stay-at-home restrictions and subsequent economic losses would cause deaths through despair. “We risk loss of precious life many, many magnitudes greater lives will be lost through death [by] despair,” said Hoffman.

Hoffman said he is a mental health practitioner and also a professor of psychology at Northampton Community College.

Commissioner David Harrington said his calculation is that, “Ninety percent of my constituents want to stick with the governor’s timeline.

“It is a false choice to choose between ‘despair deaths’ and ‘COVID-19’ deaths,” said Harrington.

Lehigh Commissioners voted to extend Lehigh County’s COVID-19 related state of emergency order for 60 days to July 17. The extension permits county officials to take further action during this crisis, including any necessary transfer of funds and to execute additional documents as they may deem appropriate.

Deputy Chief Clerk for Elections Timothy Benyo briefed commissioners on the status of preparations for the elections June 2.

According to Benyo, the COVID-19 crisis caused some polling venues to back out of providing places for the polls. According to the election official, 22 out of 160 normally-used polling places decided not offer their spaces to be used for polling places. He said he has the legal authority to relocate polling places as needed.

He warned that voters needed to make sure their familiar or regular polling place was open on election day and if the polling location had been changed to get the new address and make arrangements to go to the correct location.

A second problem is a dramatic drop in the number of volunteers, leaving officials asking the public to step up to help with the many tasks associated with running an election.

Over a third of the normal 1,000 volunteers dropped out, citing COVID-19 fears and other factors, said Benyo.

Chairwoman Amy Zanelli called on the public to volunteer.

In response to Commissioner Zakiya Smalls asking if minority and underserved constituents who have died at home are being tested for the virus, Coroner Eric Minnich told commissioners, “We absolutely are doing post-mortem testing” to check if deaths are from COVID-19 virus.

Commissioners heard a first reading for a proposed working group to study establishment of a Lehigh County health department. Commissioner Dr. Percy Dougherty has supported such a plan for several years. A regional health bureau was near final approval when an election elevated opponents of the idea into Lehigh County’s governing body and further planning was discontinued.

“We tried once before, going all the way back to 2006, when we laid the groundwork for a health department,” said Dougherty. He also expressed concern for Lehigh County’s infant mortality rate, which he described as one of the highest in the state.

He said the city of Allentown (which has a dedicated health bureau) has better health care than residents of Lower Macungie, such as himself.

Commissioner Marc Grammes expressed support for a county health department by saying, “If we had that health [bureau] in place, we would be in a better condition than where we are now. The fact that a majority of people getting coronavirus are part of our minority community or those that are not as economically advantaged as others is a concern to me.”

Resident Omar Ray called in to support the establishment of a county health department.

Dougherty and the current commissioners have agreed to revisit the idea in light of the current pandemic.

In other business, commissioners approved a plan by the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority to refinance by issuing Series D bonds for $27.5 million. The supporting resolution did not specify the purpose of the bond issue.