The impact of a pandemic on local government

In the past 5 weeks, the United States has seen a booming economy come to a screeching halt thanks to COVID-19. Just this morning, LNP-LancasterOnline reported that Lancaster County's unemployment rate is 17.9%, twice the rate of the Great Depression nearly a century ago.

More than 51,000 people in the county are out of work.

This raises a question. What impact does that have on borough government?

I wore a mask to the grocery store

Last week, Gov. Tom Wolf strongly recommended that people should wear face masks when they are out and about. This is supposed to be prevent droplets of moisture that might carry the COVID-19 virus from infecting us.

So I donned this one before heading out to the local Giant Food Store this morning.

I bought two masks years ago at J.B. Hostetter & Sons hardware store to wear when I mulch leaves in the fall. This is the spare that I had on hand. It works just fine, with one complaint: I can't wear my glasses over top of it, so my breathing fogs up my glasses.