WHBF-TV: GOP congressional candidate Phillips on pandemic: ‘Response to it is overkill’
Yesterday, news broke that southeast Iowa’s Louisa County now has the highest rate of per-capita cases of COVID-19 in the state with 1.3% of its population testing positive for the virus. Across the state, officials confirmed more than 100 new cases. But that didn’t stop IA-02 GOP candidate Rick Phillips from downplaying the situation, saying that the “cure here will end up being far worse than the cause” and the response has been “overkill.”
Asked by WHBF-TV yesterday about the approach he would take in Congress to the pandemic, Phillips responded, “I think that the response to it is overkill… I think that the cure here will end up being far worse than the cause. So I would encourage folks to do what they can do at their own level to take care of themselves. But, at the same time, we need to go back and be productive citizens.”
With social distancing measures proven to be one of the best tools available to help contain the virus, Bobby Schilling and Mariannette Miller-Meeks need to make it clear whether they agree with their primary opponent that the precautions being taken to save lives are “overkill.”
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