The state's process granting or denying waivers to businesses seeking reprieve from last year's COVID-19 shutdowns was deficient, the state's chief auditor wrote in a report released Tuesday, plagued with “questionable decisions,” leading to needless economic harm and an increased risk of COVID-19 among some during the early days of the pandemic.

Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor, in a report dated Sept. 1 but released Tuesday, criticized Pennsylvania's business-waiver program during the state's shutdown of non-life-sustaining businesses, saying it provided inconsistent decisions. He critiqued the lack of accountability and transparency and noted there was a lack of guidance provided to the businesses.

“While the pandemic certainly presented some unique challenges, the process was hastily assembled on the fly, unevenly administered and should be reformed before anything like it is ever used again,” DeFoor stated in a Tuesday press release.

In compiling the report, state auditors reviewed 150 waiver requests, finding that 103 of the final responses “appeared reasonable,” but noted 45 businesses received questionable responses and two never received a response at all. Moreover, DeFoor states in the report, notification letters sent to businesses “contained unclear language” about the state's decision.

Among the causes of the process' failures was the ever-changing guidance provided to state employees, the report said. Between March 19 and May 28, 2020, the state's guidance as to what was “life-sustaining” changed nine times, and a “frequently asked questions” document provided to businesses changed 14 times.

DeFoor also noted the state's guidance was more restrictive than the federal government's advisory, leading more businesses to be shuttered than necessary.

According to DeFoor's audit report, the Department of Community and Economic Development's waiver program's failures caused not only economic harm, but also needless risks of viral transmissions.Factoring into this is how the state developed its own list of businesses which would or would not be permitted to open, the report said. For instance, although federal guidance listed employees supporting transportation infrastructure as essential workers, Pennsylvania didn't allow automobile dealers to operate in any of its 10 lists of life-sustaining businesses.“The restriction on automobile sales not only adversely affected ... automobile dealerships but resulted in Pennsylvania residents being forced to travel out-of-state to purchase a vehicle necessary to travel to their critical jobs during a time when residents were being asked to limit travel in order to limit the spread of the virus,” the report states.Pennsylvania's decision to forbid elective surgeries was another criticism of DeFoor's, as the auditor general said patients “may consider these procedures” — such as corrective surgeries for joints or eyes — “critical to their quality of life.”DeFoor also criticized the DCED's choice to ban the operation of retail stores other than groceries which sold food and beverages, saying it could have “created a hardship for people that did not have the means or transportation to travel to grocery stores that were permitted to operate.”The process additionally resulted in a number of businesses — both ones permitted to and forbidden from operating — being uninformed of the DCED's decision. That would cause economic harm, the report said, but it may also have contributed to some shortages during the early pandemic.“An additional, potentially detrimental effect was that the business with the 'yes' response (of which it was never notified) was requesting to produce personal protective equipment that was in short supply and vitally important during the pandemic,” the report states.

Eighty of the 150 applications the auditor general reviewed fell within industries not permitted to continue physical operations. Of those, only 15 received responses “consistent with responses issued to businesses within the same industry,” and 54 were inconsistent.DeFoor's report found two main contributors to the inconsistencies: Earlier applications were “reviewed differently” than later applications, and “the inclusion of key words in the application often resulted in favorable, but questionable, responses.”DeFoor acknowledged the difficulties in creating a waiver program in just days, but said the program was needlessly inconsistent and detrimental.“It jeopardized the livelihood of some businesses and its workers throughout the Commonwealth,” the report states.