CommentsBCK FILE-As the total of coronavirus cases in the U.S. has spiked to over 300,000, with over 8,000 deaths as of Saturday, April 4, the Trump Administration appears to be taking at least some notice.
Surgeon General Jerome Adams called on the handful of governors who have been holding out on issuing statewide stay-at-home orders to “give us a week” of restrictions, proclaiming this coming week as “our Pearl Harbor moment.”
Roughly 300 million or 90 percent of Americans live in states with shelter-in-place orders. That leaves 10 percent of Americans who don’t. As a meme making the rounds on social media notes, “Having some states lock down and some states not lock down is like having a peeing section in the swimming pool.”
President Trump has opposed a federal shelter in place order, despite strong recommendations from public health experts. Dr. Anthony Fauci, on Trump’s coronavirus task force, has expressed to CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he believes there should be a nationwide order. Pointing to the midwestern states as an example, the president has said it would be unfair to order all residents to stay home in states where there aren’t “thousands” or “hundreds” of cases.
To date, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota have no orders in place, either in individual cities or statewide. Four states have partial restrictions, in individual cities or counties. It bears noting that all these states are led by Republican governors.
Keeping citizens safe should not be a partisan issue -- however, this speaks to an overarching theme, rugged individualism meets “You can’t tell me what to do.” North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum explained he was appealing to North Dakotans who “love liberty and freedom.” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has suggested social distancing should be “voluntary.”
The novel coronavirus does not recognize borders. Since December, the virus has shown up on every continent except for Antarctica and in all 50 states. We desperately need a cohesive stay at home policy across all 50 states to make an impact.
(Beth Cone Kramer is a professional writer and covers The Resistance and other important and topical issues for CityWatch.)
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