Commissioners refused May 13 during an online meeting to take up a proposal by Republican Commissioner Nathan Brown who moved the commissioners pass a resolution to support a recent a letter to Wolf from state Rep. Lisa Boscola, D-18th, 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, according to Boscola’s website. Her recommendation was done “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 to yellow status 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 in Pennsylvania.

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 magnitude greater lives will be lost though death [by] despair,” Hoffman said.

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 “90 percent of his constituents want to stick with the governor’s timeline.”

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

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 primary election slated for June 2.

According to Benyo, the COVID-19 crises has 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 have decided not offer their spaces to be used for voting. Benyo said he has the legal authority to relocate polling places as needed.

He warned voters will need to make sure their familiar or regular polling place is open on Election Day and if the polling location has been changed to get the new address and make arrangements to go the correct location.

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

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

Commissioner Amy Zanelli called on the public for volunteers to staff the upcoming June 2 election.

In a pre-regular committee meeting, Coroner Eric Minnich told commissioners, “We absolutely are doing post-mortem testing” to check if deaths are from COVID-19.

Commissioner Zakiya Smalls asked Minnich if minority and underserved constituents who have died at home are being tested for the virus.

“Yes,” Minnich said. He said the coroner’s office is testing non-hospital deaths for COVID-19 if the circumstances seem to warrant.

In other business, commissioners heard a first reading for a proposed working group to study the 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 the Lehigh County Commissioner’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,” Dougherty said. He also expressed concern for what he called Lehigh County’s infant mortality rate which he described as one of the highest in Pennsylvania.

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.

Also at the meeting, Lehigh County Commissioners approved a plan by the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority to refinance by issuing Series D bonds for $27,500,000. The supporting resolution did not specify the purpose of the bond issue.