On May 11, Reps. Valerie Gaydos, R-Allegheny, and Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, joined in signing a GOP letter calling for district attorneys across Pennsylvania to not enforce the governor’s covid-19 business closure orders. Since when did our politicians get so brazen to put their expertise in disease infections above health care experts and ask those tasked with enforcing measures that keep us safe to ignore their responsibilities?
As a constituent of Gaydos, I have followed her position on how this deadly disease should be handled. Despite her repeatedly calling for a “safe” reopening, she has ignored the guidance of leading immunologists, the CDC and overwhelming public support (70%) for a cautious approach. Like many politicians, she puts her expertise above the guidance of the only people we can rely on to make good decisions to keep us safe.
She has consistently called for the governor to “open up” despite our state not meeting the requirements of the CDC or those of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. She would use her constituents as “guinea pigs,” going against the advice of medical experts and hoping that opening up our state doesn’t result in more disease spread and dead bodies. In a recent communication to her voters, she called the governors’ establishment of the CDC-recommended contact tracing unit “a new shiny government bureaucracy.”
Let’s hope our politicians can put aside partisanship and work collaboratively, rather thancreate chaos and division, so that we can defeat this disease and get our lives back to normal.
Bob Morris
Moon