GOP Congressman Says Letting More Americans Die Of Coronavirus Is Lesser Of Two Evils Compared To Economy Tanking

On Tuesday, an Indiana Congressman Trey Hollingsworth spoke to a radio station saying “it is always the American government’s position to say, in the choice between the loss of our way of life as Americans and the loss of life, of American lives, we have to always choose the latter.”

What We Know:

• Indiana Congressman Trey Hollingsworth also added, “the social scientists are telling us about the economic disaster that is going on. Our (Gross Domestic Product) is supposed to be down 20% alone this quarter”.
• The most controversial part of the interview was when Hollingsworth said that policymakers have to put on their big boy and big girl pants and pick the lesser of two evils between death from the coronavirus versus the economy. After suffering from the backlash, Hollingsworth told CNN in a statement in his office later that day that, “it’s hyperbolic to say that the only choices before us are the two corner solutions: no economy or widespread casualties…We can use the best of biology and economics to enable as much of the economy to operate as possible while we work to minimize disease transmission.”
• Many government agencies and public health experts feel that relaxing social distancing measures would contradict recommendations of what they have been saying all along.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been urging social distancing and it is defined as “remaining out of places where people meet or gather and avoiding local public transportation”. Everyone has to practice social distancing even those who show no symptoms at all can slowly spread the disease.
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said to CNN last month, “you don’t make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline.”
• But Hollingsworth’s comments are repeating a growing desire that many Republicans including Donald Trump to begin to ease the guidelines and open businesses.