A.G. Gancarski
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio continued to contend Friday that America must reopen its economy while taking proper safety precautions.
The comments came shortly before Florida registered 3,822 new cases of COVID-19, another record day for diagnoses for the novel coronavirus.
“From the very beginning, I’ve told you COVID is a serious disease,” Rubio said. “I’ve never been one of those people going around saying it was just like the flu and so forth.”
After issuing that qualifier, and urging people to take “every step we can,” including wearing masks, social distancing, testing “as many people as you can,” and “try to get people who are sick before they’re really sick and so forth,” the Senator issued his call to action.
“What we cannot do,” Rubio said, “is close everything down again.”
“We’ve already destroyed hundreds of thousands of businesses, of jobs, people’s graduations have been cancelled,” Rubio said.
“We’re going to have to do the best we can do diminish risk … but we cannot shut things down again,” the Senator added. “It’s not going to happen.”
The comments continue a theme of recent pushback from the Senator against the idea of more shutdowns, a motif established Thursday when the Senator took issue with comments by Dr. Anthony Fauci of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
His suggestion that “football may not happen this year,” as reported by CNN, left Sen. Marco Rubio cold.
“Jobs destroyed, schools closed & graduations cancelled on the advice of experts who then suddenly decided the risks of some large gatherings were acceptable,” Rubio groused on Twitter Thursday.
“So from now on while their input is still valued,” Rubio added, “they don’t get to decide what to cancel anymore.”
Rubio’s position tracks currently with that of Sen. Rick Scott, who has maintained that while the economy needs to restart, masks and social distancing are necessary prerequisites.
Take every precaution to lower the risk of #COVID19
But we are not shutting things down again pic.twitter.com/4xxySBVcnA
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 19, 2020
9 comments
Sonja Fitch
June 19, 2020 at 1:15 pm
Yes we can!!!!!! Common good and lives are worth it! Oh Marco the goptrump cult leader trump told you to do whatever he says. A few die but the money money money! That Marco is the goptrump cult mantra!!!!!!
TED KRUZE
June 19, 2020 at 1:49 pm
The ONLY possible thing we can do is to SHUT DOWN COMPLETELY (except healthcare and police) for 21 days. NO EXCEPTIONS! Then, open back up in stages – BUT – WITH CONDITIONS! MANDATORY masks – mandatory social distancing – mandatory sanitizing. And – repeat as necessary! (And, there also needs to be SIGNIFICANT PENALTIES for violations of the conditions!)
Otherwise, this disaster is going to continue unabated – even after a vaccine is developed, distributed, and administered – because there will be a huge number of the jackasses out there who will refuse the vaccine!
No hope with a dope in charge!
BlueHeron
June 20, 2020 at 9:12 pm
Agree completely Ted.
But, what about my personal freedom and the Constitution? But Ted, you’re not the boss of me. I can do whatever I want. This isn’t China. But Ted, the mask is so uncomfortable. But Ted, it’s not manly. But Ted, it will ruin my makeup and hair. But Ted, you are the crazy one. This is a hoax and no big deal.
These are the kinds of things I have heard with my own ears as they would mock me and others for masking it. All morons.
I have also run into folks who were clearly anti-vac. Even more terrifying.
I wonder what would it take to change hearts and minds… when large #’s of their base of support starts testing positive, getting sick, or worse.
Can’t get rid of DeSantis, Rubio and Scott this November. I’ll definitely be voting BLUE from top down. Maybe some help will come from somewhere.
Right now, they who claim to lead, have given up even pretending to care.
We are on our own.
Bruce
June 19, 2020 at 5:46 pm
Take “every precaution” like joining 50,000 other football fans in a stadium? That’s moronic!
Edward Freeman
June 20, 2020 at 10:49 pm
Both of our US Senators and our Governor are complete fools. They clearly value money over human life. Sadly, Scott and DeSantis are both probably in their current offices due to voter suppression and outright cheating. Florida can do better.
martin
June 22, 2020 at 11:56 am
This coronavirus is the strangest virus I’ve ever heard of. It’s very dangerous the way it spreads. It is so mysterious the way it lurks in schools but then dies at Home Depot. It can wreak havoc in churches; praying people are exceptionally vulnerable! Although it’s mind-boggling how it vanishes when people stand close together holding signs, destroying businesses, homes, property, monuments, etc. Yet, standing to watch a marathon or a concert triggers its wrath. It is sneaky. It can spread when buying clothes at Kohl’s but not at Target. It is non-alcoholic. It can’t spread when you are buying beer. It lives for two days on Amazon boxes, you must wait 48 hours to touch them but It can’t survive on Dunkin Donuts coffee cups, so enjoying a hot cup of joe is safe. It is the most curious thing, how it lives on basketballs, baseball bats, and ballet bars, but dies on WWE ropes and Walmart shopping carts. It is spread by hairstylists, dog groomers, and dentists, but not by bank tellers, cashiers, and fast-food workers. It’s so smart. It won’t bother the first 10 people but it knows when the 11th person shows up so be careful if that’s you. It even knows what you want vs what you need. If you want a massage or your nails done it is very active on the prowl and not even a mask can stop it but If you need a plumber, it is weak, and a mask will keep it away. It also seems to be most dangerous after 5:30pm so businesses must start to close before the virus comes out and wreaks havoc upon the populations. Whoever heard of such a smart sneaky virus?
Bruce L Greenberg
June 22, 2020 at 1:13 pm
Brilliant analysis. And, if we stop testing altogether, it’ll go away just like the boogeyman.
BlueHeron
June 22, 2020 at 4:08 pm
Excellent comment.
Matt
June 24, 2020 at 12:15 pm
Truly, all the knowledge from the Internet packed into a single post! Why don’t you get information from doctors and health care professionals instead of all the armchair epidemiologists posting to social media.
Comments are closed.