WEIS Radio News spoke to 3rd District Congressman Mike Rogers by phone on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the latest updates concerning the Coronavirus Pandemic across the nation.

We asked the Congressman what his thoughts on the progress of the Shelter in Place Order set to expire on April 30th

Congressman Rogers said that while there is a large portion of the population deemed as essential that has continued to function, there is also a large portion that has had to pause and that is the portion that we have to get back up and running.

One of the topics being discussed is how to properly get the economy back up and going once things begin to return to a state of normalcy, plans have been discussed to open the economy back up in phases – like slowing opening a water valve – we asked the Congressman how he thought that process would work –

The Congressman gave an update on how the 3rd District was operating during the “Shelter in Place” –

Currently, Congress has been furloughed until the Public Health Pandemic has ceased, Congressman Rogers said that they were informed on Monday that they would be reconvening as soon as May 4th – but they will continue to practice social distancing guidelines –

Rogers said that there is a chance that Congress could possibly return within the next couple of days for a single vote on an important issue – adding some additional funding to the Payroll Protection Act, which allow for small businesses affected by layoffs to continue to pay their employees. Rogers said that at the current rate, the funding allocated for that program will run out within a matter of days – this vote will allow for some additional monies to be allocated to the program.