An Open Letter to Our Governor [Opinion]

Dear Governor:

Like many of your residents, my family and I have sheltered in place and our trips outside our home have been for what we consider to be essential purposes only.

We are very worried that the cure for the coronavirus is proving worse than this illness. Your orders to close most every business were made in good faith. But it is time to put us back to work before it’s too late.

What we are learning is that nations like Sweden are taking an opposite approach to what we are. Rather than social distancing, it appears Sweden’s “herd” strategy is working. The nation of 10 million has had just over 2,500 deaths.

All life is precious and a gift from God. We don’t diminish the tragic loss of lives caused by the pandemic. It is clear that the Swedes have chosen another path — and it is working for them.

Sweden has remained open for business. Only those with compromised immune systems are locked down and sheltered in homes and apartments. Antibodies are building in more than 35% of their citizens.

Some states such as Texas are opening up. Georgia and Tennessee are lifting stay at home polices beginning in May. Perhaps you can ask your staff to monitor progress in these states and others that open?

We would like to know just how many more lives would be saved by extending this job- and economy- killing shut down of the state?

How many more Americans in your state must lose their job? Some 26 million Americans have filed for unemployment. How long can you let this continue?

How many more Veterans must sit at home and watch the jobs they have vanish? How will they make mortgage, car, and health payments?

How many more of our residents will give up and commit suicide because of severe depression before you’ll allow them to return to work?

How many more small businesses must not only be shut down or destroyed before you, Governor, decide to let Americans go back to work?

How much more agony will you and your administration put my friends, extended family, and neighbors through before you help America go back to work?

How long will you let the state deplete its reserves before it plunges into fiscal insolvency?

Last, the federal government decided not to fund states and local government in its package of help for our businesses. So, how much longer can we wait for you to let us go to work? No taxes mean your state, county, and city cash flow is shut down.

Your residents have lost their jobs. Those who work for small businesses won’t have a job to go back to. How much longer can we wait for you to turn on the economy?

Is it your policy that it is OK to let people have homes foreclosed upon and cars repossessed?

Are you OK with people losing their health care because they cannot afford to pay for it?

Do you think the economy works like a light switch? No, it does not. It won’t just spring back to the robust economy we had pre-pandemic.

We would respectfully request that you listen to experts from small businesses, chambers of commerce, renowned economists, and medical experts who share different views on the pandemic than those at White House briefings.

Governor, please listen to your residents who are asking you to let them go back to work. They will wear masks, distance responsibly, and help rebuild your state’s economy.