U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis has released a statement regarding America’s continuing efforts to combat the coronavirus.
Lewis is concerned about the severe impact that his fellow Minnesotans face, saying that while these “disruptions to our daily lives are warranted, it’s important that we stick together and adopt best practices.”
He notes that sound guidelines are in place to halt the spread of the virus and protect the most vulnerable among us. Senate candidate Lewis intends to lead by example in light of these new quarantine habits.
Jason Lewis has been highly complimentary of the Trump administration’s efforts to fight the Chinese virus as well as the bipartisan approach of several state governors on the front lines.
Putting the interests of American citizens first, Lewis continues with several calls to action in his own words:
“Adopt an Economic Buffer
The government has been forced to shut down the economy. Though necessary, there is also a responsibility to help those who are negatively affected. That means, among other things, getting families through the next few months with readily available emergency care, penalty-free withdrawals from retirement accounts, and early tax rebates and filing delay. The federal government must avoid a liquidity crunch for cash strapped businesses by immediately opening direct lines of credit. This could be directed through the Small Business Administration, the Treasury, or even the Federal Reserve itself. Ultimately, the best way to fix the economy is to beat the virus. But no corporate ‘bailout’ funds should be available for share-buybacks or bonuses.
Expand ‘Right to Try’
As a cosponsor of the first successful law reducing regulations for the terminally ill, I have been a steady advocate for reducing regulations and giving patients more control over their health. We must focus on streamlining the FDA and ridding the medical bureaucratic red tape for all patients—particularly with regard to new and existing off-label drugs and therapies is already showing promise. Innovations like telehealth—which I discussed in-depth, including HIPPA restrictions, in a January Sanford Medical roundtable in Luverne—should be rolled out immediately along with redirecting our ‘arsenal of democracy’ towards a medical infrastructure crash program manufacturing test kits, medical supplies, and increasing hospital capacity.
Buy American, Now.
This virus has revealed the other side of globalism. We’ve outsourced critical industries like electronics, medical supplies and devices, prescription drugs, and antibiotics to China. We should immediately end the outsourcing of key industries to our adversaries—especially a Communist country so emboldened they’ve already threatened to cut off the U.S. drug supply, plunging America “into the hell of a novel coronavirus epidemic.” Ending this dangerous supply chain dependence starts with Defense Protection Act but should eventually include directives that all federal agencies buy American-made supplies in vital areas affected by a public health or national security crisis.
Control Human Migration
This virus has migrated across the globe. Thankfully the Administration cut off direct travel to China early, and now it has been extended to other hotspots. We must not only control our northern and southern borders but also reconsidering the cavalier way in which international travel takes place to and from the United States. We are set to endure a weeks-long self-quarantine to help contain just one zoonotic virus. Adopting a practice of enhanced medically screening of all international travelers on a permanent and routine basis amounts to far less inconvenience. We did it for terrorism; it’s now time to do it for the third leading cause of death in the United States, infectious disease.
No Rationing of Health Care
We cannot tolerate what we’ve witnessed in Italy or other countries. Disturbing reports of health care rationing and even medical officials suggesting they must let people die by evaluating the “presence of comorbidities” is unacceptable in America. This cruel triage is a direct result of scarce medical resources coming from a government-led system that underprices the value of providers. America should end any flirtation with single-payer ‘options’ that a recent Navigant study showed would devastate rural hospitals and clearly lead to rationing of care to our most vulnerable.
Finally, authorities say the novel outbreak started in a live animal market in Wuhan, China. It should accurately be labeled as such. It is hardly ‘xenophobic’ to state the obvious unless you ignore the names of every other international virus. Names that help us identify important aspects to the origins of disease. Some politicians and pundits can’t help themselves—but that is no excuse for the more serious among us for refusing to speak the truth. This is a Chinese virus and we should not be putting political correctness above the health of Minnesotans.”
