Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott criticized “oppressive” coronavirus-related lockdown measures imposed by Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during a Friday afternoon appearance on Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime.”
Asked by Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner about widespread protests as well as GOP lawmakers in the state bringing a lawsuit against Whitmer’s restrictions, Scott cited what he considered “very important facts” to counter the notion that continued stringent lockdown measures are necessary to fight the spread of the novel virus.
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“When I look at the numbers in Michigan, I see a couple of very important facts,” Scott said. “Six out of the 83 counties account for about 40,000 of the nearly 50,000 cases, and about the same percentage, 80% of the deaths, are coming from those six counties. So the question is, Michigan as a whole with 77 counties looking like there’s a path to reopening, why would they not consider relaxing the regulatory burden and the stay-at-home restrictions for those areas of the state that seem to be, 77 out of 83 counties, in a position to move forward?”
The South Carolina senator contended that static cases are going down, hospital capacity is fine, and isolating cases to “mitigate the spread” all are true “in 77 out of the 83 counties.”
Those six counties “may need more attention,” Scott said while noting that any preventative measures should “start at nursing homes and work its way down.”
“It’s not what’s happening in Michigan,” he said. “It’s too oppressive for the people of Michigan.”
Responding to Faulkner’s question about President Donald Trump saying “we are back” in a Friday press conference, Scott said, “Yes. I would agree with the president. When you take a look at the most vulnerable populations, and you ask the question, ‘Can we isolate the people who need to be taken away from our society, from walking around and going shopping and eating out?’ The answer is yes.” (RELATED: ‘I Don’t Have Proof’: Whitmer Balks When Challenged By Reporter About Claim That Protests Are Spreading Coronavirus)
“Those folks are typically in nursing homes,” he concluded. “And then it’s folks over the age of 70, and over 60. When you look at the deaths in our country, and frankly look at New York City as perhaps the best case to look at, I think 90% of the deaths were in people over the age of 60. Less than 1% under the age of 24.”
