Widespread panic has brought cooperation
When the coronavirus began to spread rapidly beyond the Chinese borders in January, President Trump became pro-active and issued an immediate travel ban on China. Of course many Democrats went to their “go to” line and called him racist for doing that. Since then the coronavirus pandemic has reached every part of the globe and in the past week has become the top news story in the world. The media outlets have done a good job keeping the public informed although in some cases they seem to be planting more seeds of fear then actually informing. This should be no surprise because it is a well-known fact that bad news drives ratings more than good news.
In the past week the NBA announced they are postponing the remainder of their season because two players tested positive, the NCAA has cancelled several of their post-season basketball tournaments or will play games in empty areas, the NHL and MLB have suspended their seasons and actor Tom Hanks and his wife revealed they got the disease while on location in Australia. Cancellation of these events where large numbers of people gather is simply a preemptive measure aimed at lessening the spread by unknown carriers.
The truth is our country has seen several other types of flu or viruses in the past few years that have killed many more than the coronavirus. The danger with this one is that many of us can have it and be unaware. The symptoms are similar to a cold or the flu and this time of year it is common for millions to be a little under the weather and not seek treatment because we feel it will run its course naturally. If healthy younger or middle-aged people have this the odds of recovery is very good although they can be a carrier and transmit to the elderly which are much more susceptible.
Reporting all of these items is what the media does however, there is one important detail that is being under reported. As of today, the United States has only had 39 citizens die of this new strain, most of them were related to a nursing home in the Seattle area. That is 39 people too many but considering the recovery rate worldwide, we have seen a very low number of fatalities from this. That low number of deaths to our fellow citizens can be credited in part to President Trump’s immediate action of imposing the travel ban to China and then his announcement of the travel bans on Europe that came last week.
Unlike with most everything our President has done since taking office, the Democrats have actually given Mr. Trump credit for his actions to keep Americans safe. They should be commended for finally putting aside their political differences for the good of the American people. However, as they have acknowledged the success of the travel bans to prevent more inflicted foreigners from entering our country, they have managed to expose their hypocrisy.
These are the same individuals that have opposed our President every step of the way as he has tried to build a wall on our southern border for the same purpose, to keep our country safe. Now that they have admitted that preventing foreigners from entering our country that could be carrying a potentially deadly disease, they will only show how they have double standards concerning those attempting to enter illegally. It makes perfect sense that if we as a nation refuses the entry of people to protect our citizens from disease, we should also refuse others entering that have no regard for our laws.
Ray Rehder is the chair of the 8th District Republican Committee, chair of the Scott County Republican Central Committee, and chair of the 148 Republican Legislative District. He can be reached at rrehder@integritycom.us
