Josh Shapiro Says He Doesn't Support Pandemic Shutdowns, Mask Mandates

HARRISBURG, PA — The economic shutdowns, mask mandates, and other basic COVID-19 mitigation measures put in place by Gov. Tom Wolf's administration during the height of the pandemic do not have the support of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro, the current attorney general and the man seen for years as Wolf's heir apparent in left wing state politics.

The comments come as Shapiro courts a growing bevy of center-right supporters that finds Republican candidate Doug Mastriano too extreme.

Shapiro represented the Wolf administration in court to defend many of the policies — highly controversial at the time — which he now says he does not support. On business and school shutdowns, for instance, he recently told the Associated Press that he would've had institutions make those decisions themselves.

"When I talked with business leaders and education leaders, many of them expressed frustration that they were just never told anything - they were dictated to," Shapiro told the AP. "That's not the way, that's not my leadership style. That's not the way I will (do it)."

With the death toll mounting and hospitalizations skyrocketing, Gov. Wolf and his various cabinet members took heavy heat from Republicans and business owners for more than a year as they implemented a wide array of restrictions. Restrictions ebbed and flowed with case rates, and a vigorous debate raged across the world as communities weighed economic and social damages with the need to end the pandemic.

But in Pennsylvania, restrictions were in line with what the Centers for Disease Control recommended. There was plenty of controversy surrounding faith in the CDC too, of course, but the Wolf administration did not invent most of their policies on their own — they were guided by state and federal health officials, and they were in line with policies put in place by Democratic governors across the country.

Shapiro's stance now, however, puts him more in line with Gov. Wolf's Republican detractors than with the governor himself. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, for instance, used nearly identical language to Shapiro when describing his lifting of the masking mandate last year.

"We are still urging people to continue to wear the mask, to continue to use the safe practices that they have mastered over the past year," Abbott told Texas station ABC13. "Because Texans have mastered the safe strategies, they know the right thing to do."

Shapiro, earlier this week, said the same thing when he said he did not support universal mandates.

"That's the approach we need to take more broadly in the public, which is educate, empower, respect people's personal decisions, and respect their personal freedom to make those choices," he told the AP.

Gov. Wolf's office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the issue from Patch.

Shapiro leads Mastriano in the gubernatorial polling by 5.9 points, according to an average of the most recent polls from RealClearPolitics.