County Commissioners announce formation of
COVID-19 Business Task Force

Task force to provide local input into re-opening, repairing
and restoring Chester County’s economy
 
WEST CHESTER, PA_ Even as Pennsylvania remains under a stay at home order by Governor Wolf, the Chester County Commissioners have been meeting – virtually – with business and economic leaders and health officials, to formulate plans to get Chester County back to work when the impact of COVID-19 lessens. 
 
Chester County’s approach to the restoration and continued growth of its economy is the creation of a COVID-19 Business Task Force comprised of industry leaders from throughout the county, partnered with businesses that represent geographical and size diversity. 
 
The mission of Chester County’s COVID-19 Business Task Force is three-fold. 
 
First, the Task Force will provide input into business re-opening mitigation strategies developed by the Commonwealth, ensuring that those strategies are realistic, relevant, and will be adhered to by Chester County businesses. 
 
The second part of the COVID-19 Business Task Force mission is to assist in distributing information and updates regarding re-opening and the sector-specific mitigation strategies that will come with re-opening. 
 
Finally, the Task Force will participate in, and guide the development of Chester County’s economic recovery plan. 
 
Chester County’s COVID-19 Business Task Force will consist of two groups – a core team and an advisory committee. 
 
The core team will comprise organizations that serve the entire county as well as representatives from each of the county’s chambers of commerce. Core team representatives include Chester County’s Agricultural Development Council, Association of Township Officials (Executive Director accepted invitation), Chamber of Business & Industry, Conference & Visitors’ Bureau, Department of Community Development, Economic Development Council, Planning Commission, Municipal Managers Consortium and the Chester County Intermediate Unit.
 
The advisory committee will consist of organizations that represent and interact with the many industries in Chester County, and will be of varying sizes from across the whole of the county. 
 
Industries that will be represented include agricultural, bio/pharma, breweries and distilleries, childcare, conservation/environment/open space, construction, finance, gig economy workers, hospitals, human services, legal, lodging, long-term care, manufacturing, municipalities, non-profits, real estate, retail, restaurants and food service, schools and universities, technology, tourism and transportation.
 
Membership of the Chester County’s COVID-19 Business Task Force core team is being established and will begin meeting in early May.  Members of each industry identified as part of the advisory committee will be established in the coming weeks.