LYNCHBURG, Va. — “Open up Virginia:” That’s the message to Governor Ralph Northam from some local Republican Congressmen.
Representative Bob Good co-signed a letter along with Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith urging Governor Northam to reopen the state amid COVID-19 restrictions.
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The letter asks for Northam to reconsider his COVID-19 restrictions on businesses and deliver a definitive game plan for moving businesses towards normalcy.
“I think there’s this mentality that, ‘Gosh, we’ve got to do something! It’s a serious virus so we’ve got to do something.’ It makes us feel better that we’re enacting these restrictions, but there’s no end in sight,” Good said.
25% of Virginia businesses closed either temporarily or permanently from impacts of the pandemic, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Good says the way to help businesses stay open is to lighten restrictions.
However, the Virginia Department of Health says it’s important to keep following health guidelines until we are on the other end of this pandemic.
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“There are considerations of people’s personal rights,” Dr. Lindsey Lockwood, with the Central Virginia Health Department, said. “For me, I’m in public health, so of course I believe in these standards all the way.”
Good says he’s willing to work together, with the Governor, on a solution.
“My answer is just open up,” Good said.
Northam’s office sent the following statement regarding the letter:
It’s interesting that the Congressman would make this request via letter when he has not participated in any of the regular meetings with the Governor and Congressional delegation. Governor Northam will continue to base Virginia’s response on science and the guidance of public health experts—not on the advice of someone who called this a “phony pandemic”.
Good says the virus is real.
