How do Kentucky rednecks respond to the coronavirus pandemic? First up, treat it like terrorists and 9/11 and go out and live your lives!
State Rep. Jim Gooch received applause from fellow Republicans after a House floor speech Wednesday defending the legislature's decision to continue meeting amid the pandemic, urging Kentuckians to continue living their lives as normal.
While some have called on the Kentucky General Assembly to join the 21 state legislatures that have postponed legislative sessions — abiding by the White House recommendation to avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people — the Republican supermajority is pushing forward with the session, scheduled to last until April 15…
While conceding there is a "medical emergency," Gooch said, "we do run the risk of mass hysteria when we try to make make people believe that we can't continue the business that we need to."…
"This nation has faced lots of crises, you know, whether it be the terrorist attacks or whatever," Gooch said. "But the one thing that really united us when we faced those things was that we had resolve that we were not going to let terrorists or anybody else... destroy our normalcy. And the one thing that was so, I guess, the common denominator in our ability to overcome this thing, was that we could live our lives as normal as possible."
And Gooch let it slip what he is really afraid of if we do not go out and live our lives normally.
He went on to say that he worries most about the economic devastation caused by business closings and bankruptcies, which could end up affecting "a lot more people than the people that got sick."
As Louisville Courier-Journal reporter Joseph Gerth pointed out, Gooch is not exactly a medical expert.
For heaven’s sake, whatever you do, don’t listen to Jim Gooch.
The insurance agent from Providence, Kentucky, who doesn’t have a degree in epidemiology or in infectious diseases, is going to get you or someone dear to you killed if we listen to him.
Gooch is one of a handful of people who thinks that the steps we’re taking now to isolate and stop the spread of the coronavirus are too much. He thinks that the impact on business outweighs the deaths that will surely take place if people are allowed to continue to spread the COVID-19 disease.
Yeah, his regular gig is as an INSURANCE AGENT.
Now, later this same day, seems someone must have gotten to to the Republicans who run the Kentucky legislature because they have announced that they will be suspending the latest legislative session for one week.
Meanwhile, the Kentucky General Assembly announced it would take a one-week break and come back next Thursday and April 1 in hopes of getting the budget to Beshear that day.
And if gathering in mass isn’t enough to defy the coronavirus, Kentuckians have decided to go to an old stanby to deal with a crisis: buy guns and ammo.
Kentuckians are going on a massive gun and ammo buying spree for 'fear of the unknown'
The coronavirus will have to pry my gun from my cold dead hands! I suppose when people go on a rampage for sold out toilet paper that the well armed will be able to protect their hoarded rolls.
Meanwhile Governor Andy Beshear has signed an executive order banning all gatherings, but he is not going to have any punitive actions for those who defy this order.
Did I mention that Kentucky has tested a total of 639 people so far? I wonder where all those coronavirus test kits are that Trump promised last week? Remember, there was supposed to be 1.9 million tests available “later next week.” It is always next week with Trump.
Fun times here.