Image of House Majority Leader Stenny H. Hoyer from https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-not-coming-back-to-washington-next-week-after-all-hoyer-says/ar-BB13kj5x#interstitial=1
A gas station worker. A trucker. ER nurses. Doctors. The grocery worker who stocks those ever dwindling supplies of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. All of these are considered "essential workers" in these days of pandemic panic and state mandated shutdowns. These jobs, normally the life blood of the American economy, are now more important than ever. These heroes (and lets face it... they are heroes in every sense of the word) face the possibility everyday of contracting covid-19 and ending up on a ventilator. We applaud these people daily in the news media, and we should. They provided the necessary "last mile" of service in the critical supply chains that keep this nation functioning. They are a prime example of the solidarity and work ethics that made this country a world power and a force to be reckoned with.
So, why is it that our federal government isn't held to the same standard? This morning, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer announced that the U.S. House of Representatives would NOT be returning to work May 4th, as was planned. According to Hoyer, the House doctor was concerned over the latest numbers that showed District of Colombia Covid-19 cases rising rather than being flat or falling.
Now, I want to show you something.
Now, Washington D.C is conspicuously absent from this list. I have looked and NOWHERE can I find 2018 death stats for D.C. I can find the deaths of Covid-19 patients in 3 seconds: 185. So...lets improvise. So far, 300 deaths are attributrd to Covid-19 in Virginia. Add the 185 deaths reported in D.C. so far, and you have 485 deaths TOTAL in Virginia and D.C.
Let's compare that to the deaths from flu in 2018 in Virginia. 1,283. That's right. Over 2.5x the deaths from flu in 2018 compared to Covid-19 today. Even if you factor in that the flu deaths span a year, it still boggles the mind. We have 2.5x as many deaths from flu and we don't shutdown entire branches of the federal government. We don't require social distancing. Movie theaters still operate and concerts go on. And yet, Covid-19 comes along and suddenly we fire a bullet into the heart of the American economy, shut down our education system and ARTIFICIALLY INDUCE THE WORST ECONOMIC SITUATION SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION!!!
My belief, (and it's OK if you disagree, we're all adults here) is that, if the trucker, nurse and grocery worker are "essential" and their lives must be placed in jeopardy every single day... then the House of Representatives should be AT LEAST as important as these workers and there should be no excuses for them not getting back to work and taking care of the business our country desperately needs done.
I'm not trying to say that this disease isn't serious. It is. But we need to keep perspective on this. We're told to wash our hands, use sanitizers and bleach to disinfect surfaces and to keep our distance from people. Fine. Normal, functioning adults who care about their health do those things every flu season regularly. We watch our children and loved ones for any sign of flu and act accordingly, keeping those sickest home. We do this EVERY YEAR. Why is Covid-19 so different, since it is transmitted in the EXACT SAME MANNER AS THE FLU???
Does this make any sense to you? 'Cause it sure as hell makes no sense to me.
Cover image from information compiled from www.cdc.com