Coronavirus in rural America (Part XXXXVI): Two stories out of Pennsylvania

The first is this Philadelphia Inquirer story about Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.

In Wellsboro, a borough of 3,239 known for its gas lamps on Main Street and Christmas celebrations, reopening didn’t look the same for every business. It’s a town where the owners are likely behind the counter.

Dunham’s, opened in 1905 by Roy and Fannie Dunham, felt like a community center, everyone eager to catch up after holing up indoors since March. The cafe’s chairs were placed atop tables, but customers still came in for takeout coffee.

There is so much rich, local color here, I'm not even going to try to do it justice with a further excerpt. Read journalist Jason Nark's entire story, and you might actually hope that the small businesses in Wellsboro will survive the era of Walmart and amazon.com. Just as importantly, you might believe that the survival of these small businesses is possible.

Here's the other Pennsylvania story, by Trip Gabriel for the New York Times, "G.O.P. Defiance of Pennsylvania’s Lockdown Has 2020 Implications."