Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., says the U.S. can safely lift some coronavirus restrictions and allow people to return to their jobs provided they adhere to smart health guidelines.
Hice made his comments in a column for USA Today posted on Tuesday night.
“We can safely reopen the country and allow folks to return to work while continuing to practice smart health guidelines,” he said. “Every day that we delay makes it more difficult to restore the economic prosperity we enjoyed just three months ago.
“Over 33 million hardworking Americans have filed for unemployment since mid-March. Americans and their employers are facing a tremendous difficulty.”
He questioned whether the decision to close businesses and issue stay-at-home orders were even necessary.
“Two months later, it remains doubtful whether it was truly necessary to force businesses to close their doors or to order citizens to stay in their homes for weeks on end,” he said. “Many of the models used to justify these measures have proved to be flat out wrong. Experts who put forward the worst doomsday projections have been wildly off the mark”.
And he noted: “We cannot afford to wait. The sooner we begin taking steps on the road to recovery, the more prosperous the path will be for us all.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, warned on Tuesday that “the consequences could be really serious if cities and state reopen the economy too quickly.”
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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