Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick told FOX News host Tucker Carlson that he’s ready to sacrifice his life to COVID-19 for the American economy, and that there are a lot of seniors out there who are with him on that.
Said Patrick: “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 all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’ And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in. And that doesn’t make me noble or brave or anything like that. I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me — I have six grandchildren — that’s what we all care about … And I want to live smart and see through this, but I don’t want the whole country to be sacrificed. And that’s what I see.”
The Texas Tribune reports: “Patrick’s point of view is directly at odds with the messaging of many public health officials, most prominently Trump administration official Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is one of the chief public advocates for social distancing. Fauci and others have spent the last several weeks pleading with Americans to stay at home as much as possible and to avoid social interaction as a means to slow the contagion. The aim is to give hospitals time, space and supplies to treat what is becoming an overwhelming influx of patients afflicted with the virus. It is a divide that is pitting public health officials, who are desperately begging Americans to stay in their homes and therefore avoid spreading the virus, with some of the voices in American politics and business, including former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.“
