The vice governor of Texas, who shouted "the elderly can sacrifice for the country" during the initial outbreak of the epidemic in the United States in 2020, has now tested positive for the new crown.
According to the Texas Tribune and Fox News on January 3, Dan Patrick, the deputy governor of Texas, tested positive for covid-19 last week and is currently in quarantine.
Screenshot of the Texas Tribune report
Dan Patrick, Deputy Governor of Texas, pictured from Twitter
Allen Blakemore, a senior adviser at Patrick, said Patrick had mild symptoms of COVID-19 last week, testing positive for COVID-19 but negative for it later.
"His symptoms were mild and no one else in the family was infected." Alan Blackmer said, "He will continue to work from home and will return to public affairs this weekend." ”
According to Fox News, Patrick is currently running for re-election, and he has completed the full vaccination and received a booster injection. Still, Patrick has encouraged others to "have their own research on vaccines," strongly opposing the U.S. government's policy of making vaccination mandatory, claiming that "the federal government does not have the ability to deprive individuals of the right to choose whether or not to vaccinate."
Fox News network reported a screenshot of the report
Another controversial remark by Patrick was that he had called several times in an interview during the initial outbreak of the epidemic in the United States in 2020 that "the elderly can sacrifice for the country."
In March 2020, Patrick, then 69, said in several interviews with Fox News that many elderly people, including himself, would make sacrifices for young people to save the U.S. economy, according to the Observer Network.
"The national economy is more important than the lives of the elderly." he said.
He said that the current epidemic will not only kill 2% of the population of the United States, as experts say, but also cause a complete collapse of the economy and bring about the possibility of social collapse, so everything should be put back on track after a few weeks at most. That statement was very controversial in the United States.
He admitted in an interview with Forbes that he was in the "high-risk" susceptible population, but that "I am not afraid of the coronavirus, but of what is going on in this country". Therefore, he would rather risk his life than continue to implement "harsh" epidemic prevention measures that are harmful to the economy.
"No one has ever asked me, 'As an older person, are you trading your life for the prosperity of future generations of America.'" If this is a quid pro quo, I totally agree. ”
He called on the US economy and society to get back on track as soon as possible, to treat the epidemic "smartly", and for the elderly to "take care of themselves" and not to sacrifice the national economy. He told the host that the collapse of the U.S. economy is more terrible than losing his own life.
In conclusion, Patrick emphasized: "We all want to live a little longer, but the greatest gift we can give to our country and future generations is the legacy of the country, which is currently in danger." What's more, according to Trump, the mortality rate of this disease is still quite low, is this really worthy of the entire country shutdown? ”
"The greatest gift we can give to the nation and future generations is the legacy of the nation"
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.