COLUMBIA SPY

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Coronavirus quarantines and your legal rights: 4 questions answered | Thursday Morning Coffee

Pennsylvania is now up to 133 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the state, sadly, has seen its first fatality, a resident of Northampton County. On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-8th District, announced he'd gone into self-quarantine after coming into contact with someone suffering from the illness. And the rest of us are working from home or are in our own form of self-isolation.

Which got us thinking: So what is quarantine, anyway? And what are your legal rights when the government tells you to Netflix and couch it? We're turning things over to University of Oregon Legal Research Professor Latisha Nixon-Jones, who has some answers. She wrote the piece below for The Conversation, where it first appeared.

https://www.penncapital-star.com/covid-19/coronavirus-quarantines-and-your-legal-rights-4-questions-answered-thursday-morning-coffee/

Distilled spirits groups ask Gov. Wolf to reconsider his coronavirus-related shutdown of the state stores

The Distilled Spirits Council and the American Distilled Spirits Association sent a letter to Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday afternoon urging him to reconsider his decision to close all of the Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores.

Those closures took place at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

https://www.pennlive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/distilled-spirits-groups-ask-gov-wolf-to-reconsider-his-coronavirus-related-shutdown-of-the-state-stores.html

The day county courts get shut down: a look inside district court in Columbia

The sharp smell of disinfectant hung in the air in Columbia District Judge Miles Bixler's courtroom on Wednesday afternoon.

A cleaning service comes in twice a week, but given the coronavirus outbreak, Bixler had stepped up disinfecting by spraying all surfaces over lunch before afternoon hearings had begun.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/the-day-county-courts-get-shut-down-a-look-inside/article_39a4ffe0-69d7-11ea-aa64-4305c9fe179e.html