Backlash after Texas leader suggests older Americans risk coronavirus to save economy
Would older Americans be willing to risk the coronavirus to get the economy moving again? Texas’s lieutenant governor thinks so.
Speaking with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Monday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he was more worried about hurting the economy than the COVID-19 pandemic.
“No one reached out to me and said, ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that America loves for its children and grandchildren?’ And if that is the exchange, I’m all in,” Patrick told Carlson.
“Those of us who are 70 plus, we’ll take care of ourselves. But don’t sacrifice the country,” he said.
Patrick said he will turn 70 next week.
“I don’t want the whole country to be sacrificed,” he said on Fox News.
Shortly after his comments, #NotDying4WallStreet trended on Twitter, reaching the second overall spot.
Last week President Donald Trump asked all Americans to self-isolate as much as possible for 15 days to put the brakes on the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week he signaled that he hopes to get the country’s economy moving again and get people back to work, despite calls from public health officials for people to continue social distancing to slow the spread of the virus.
“America will, again, and soon, be open for business,” Trump said at a press conference Monday. “Very soon. A lot sooner than three or four months that somebody was suggesting. Lot sooner. We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.”
The number of coronavirus cases has been ballooning in the United States, with more than 46,000 people who have tested positive and at least 593 deaths as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The economy has taken a major hit, with many analysts saying the country is now in a recession. The United States has not taken the strict measures that some other countries have. Britain and Italy are both in a virtual lockdowns as public health officials work to stop the virus.
