Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, everybody.
After facing intense criticism for suggesting on Fox News last month that he’d rather perish from the new coronavirus than see instability in the state’s economic system, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said last night that he’s thankful Texas is beginning the process of reopening its economy because the restrictions are currently “crushing small businesses” and the economic market.
“I’m sorry to say that I was right on this and I’m thankful that now we are now finally beginning to open up Texas and other states because it’s been long overdue,” he told interview host Tucker Carlson.
“What I said when I was with you that night is there are more important things than living. And that’s saving this country for my children and my grandchildren and saving this country for all of us,” Patrick said. “I don’t want to die, nobody wants to die, but man we’ve got to take some risks and get back in the game and get this country back up and running.”
During his latest interview on Fox News, Patrick said that, in Texas, the death toll wasn’t high enough to warrant shutting down the entire state. According to the latest data from the Texas Department of State Health Services, 19,458 Texans have been sickened from the virus, while 495 have died.
“Let’s face reality of where we are: In Texas, we have 29 million people. We’ve lost 495 and every life is valuable, but 500 people out of 29 million and we’re locked down,” Patrick said.
So just to clarify his earlier remarks, Dan doesn’t want to die, but if the price of “reopening the economy” is that you have to die, well, that’s the way it goes. Every life is valuable, but obviously some are more valuable than others. I’m sure he can’t believe he has to explain that to you.
You know we are going to have to re-open. That is just the way it is like it or not. This can’t keep going on.
Sure, but how we reopen matters. Testing, masks, social distancing, and possibly targeted closures if there are new outbreaks will be part of any rational plan to reopen. We’re still not quite at the peak of the outbreaks yet, so when we reopen matters a lot, too. Patrick is saying that all the shutdowns were a mistake and that the science is all bogus. He’s going to get a lot of people infected if he has his way, and some of them will die. That’s the bottom line.
That’s just the thing–Dan Patrick has the resources to protect himself and get excellent treatment if he does get sick, so he has less risk than you do.
But, hearing someone such as John Ioannidis speak about this pandemic makes me feel a lot less worried, in that this virus is probably not so lethal as we thought. Also, plenty of ordinary people have made You Tube videos about their experiences with the illness. While certainly not a day on the beach, their experiences were no worse than other common viral illness, the colds, flu, upset stomach that everyone gets from time to time. None of them were inpatient at a hospital, just rested at home and recovered.
Meantime, you have Bill Maher, still wishing for a massive recession just to discredit and defeat Trump. Of course, Maher has the means to be fine through a recession, while those of lesser means will suffer the most. We can also assume that Maher would be happy with a higher death toll, if it makes Trump looks bad.
This is a new virus that people have not found a cure or a vaccine for. If anyone can say, with scientific evidence, how this virus will act in the fall, then make your point. This virus is already a mutation, whose to say there will not be another mutation? Who’s to say it lays dormant until the fall? If everyone wants the way it was before, come to the realization that our won’t. There is good evidence that releasing the restrictions will make it worse, making the economy change in a way people didn’t intend. There is no evidence that things will get better, but good evidence things will get worse with the lifting of restrictions.
Maybe the economy is not the most important thing here, but peoples’ health and lives.
Charles,
“how we re-open matters”
Everyone agrees with that both Republicans and Democrats. I just want High School Football.
I’m in the “open it up” camp under State leadership and everyone can perform their own risk analysis, or not. The rub being that risk analysis is made more difficult/impossible by lack of relevant data, which is why universal ACCURATE testing for positivity for COVID-19 and post-illness antibodies is critical and must be implemented ASAP.
Dan Patrick is truly a patriot and really this may a moment in our nation’s history when he can be placed on that pedestal of being called one of our second set of Founding Fathers. More of a ugly red-headed step Father type, but nonetheless a dad…somewhat deadbeat.
Thomas Jefferson:
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Dan Patrick:
We hold this Fake News about the dangers of any virus to be apparent: that all angry rich white men with financial investments; that they are endowed by Trump with certain privileges; that among these are death for lesser others in order to have liberty from inconvenience, and the pursuit of their happiness at the expense of others.