Friday, during an interview that aired on Huntsville, AL radio’s WVNN, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) discussed how his East Texas congressional district was handling the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and what he foresaw as overcoming the impact could mean.
During the discussion, Gohmert also referenced the Hong Kong flu (H3N2) pandemic of the late 1960s and how different his experience with that was compared to coronavirus.
“[I] was just in high school, had just got in high school back during the Hong Kong flu, ’68, ’69,” he said. “I’ve been reading a lot about that, and I remember the talk about it. We lost 100,000 or so Americans back then to that virus. We didn’t have a vaccine for it, much like coronavirus didn’t have a vaccine. But, I don’t remember any business being shutdown. I don’t remember anybody being told they had to wear a mask or anything.”
The Texas Republican congressman explained that given the willingness of the country to accept requirements and restrictions put in place by governmental bodies to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in current-day America seemed to show the country was much more “tolerant” of government power.
“I know we’ve done more and improved more, but I think Americans now are much more tolerant of having big government tell them what they can and can’t do, especially the millennials are more accustomed to telling them what they can or can’t do,” Gohmert continued. “I see that as the difference between now and past pandemics. There will probably be a little resurgence — hopefully not much more than this one. A lot depends on us.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.