Democrat Governor Of Colorado Defends Opening Up State Economy, Calls For More ‘Sustainable’ Approach

Apr 27, 2020

The vast majority of economic reopenings that have happened across the country have been by order of Republican governors, folks like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. The folks who have opted to try and reopen things and sustain their economies and allow people to get back to work have received heavy, heavy criticism from the left for making this choice.

However, not all Democrats are on board with long-term lockdowns. In fact, during an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN this past Sunday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis defended his decision to open up his state’s economy, noting that a more “sustainable” strategy for protecting people and cutting down on the spread of COVID-19 must be pursued.

Here’s more on this from The Daily Wire:

While Polis said that, of course, he would love to have “next week’s information and next month’s information” today, that’s simply “not the world we live in — we have to make the best informed decisions, based on data and science, with the information we have,” he said, as reported by Politico.

While Tapper brought up the “theoretical” potential for more deaths as a result of the easing of social distancing measures, Polis defended the state’s staged reopening by repeatedly emphasizing the concept of sustainability. The current lockdowns, he suggested are ultimately not “sustainable.”

“What we know is that what matters a lot more than the date that the stay-at-home ends is what we do going forward, and … how we have an ongoing, sustainable way, psychologically, economically, and from a health perspective, to have the social distancing we need at workplaces, where people recreate, and across the board,” Polis said. “Otherwise, if we can’t succeed in doing that on an ongoing basis, the stay-at-home was for nothing. It doesn’t accomplish anything, if it’s not replaced with practices that are sustainable for the weeks and months that it’s likely to remain with us.”

The governor went on to discuss that his administration is concerned about the possibilities of a second wave of the potentially deadly disease, but said they are also “laser-focused” on trying to find a way that they can continue social distancing measures in the long-term in a more sustainable way that will help them maintain economic stability.

Colorado is getting geared up to move from a “stay-at-home” order to a “safer at home” plan that will enable certain businesses to open up and selective medical procedures to begin being performed by medical professionals.

It’s refreshing to see a Democrat take such a balanced approach to the issue of this virus. The economic devastation this has caused is on par with the people it has harmed in other ways, and unfortunately, we can’t just not work and produce products and services. Our society is not built to endure that kind of thing long-term.

Here’s to hoping for better solutions in the future.