Texas Lt. Governor: US economy more important than lives of elderly

“And those of us who are 70 plus, we’ll take care of ourselves, but don’t sacrifice the country,” he said.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

America’s financial well-being is more important than the elderly, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in an interview Monday night.

“I’m living smart, listening to the president and the CDC guidelines like all people should, but I’m not living in fear of COVID-19. What I’m living in fear of is what’s happening to this country,” he said.

“No one reached out to me and said, ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?'”

“And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in,” said Patrick, a grandfather of six.

Patrick said his message is that the country needs to get back to work “and those of us who are 70 plus, we’ll take care of ourselves, but don’t sacrifice the country.”

“And I’m not trying to think in any kind of morbid way, Tucker,” he told the Fox News host. “But I’m just saying that we’ve got a choice here. And we’re going to be in a total collapse, recession, depression, collapse in our society.”

Studies of those infected with the coronavirus have shown that the elderly are at a significantly higher risk of death than the young. Patrick, who turns 70 next week, acknowledges that he is in the high-risk category.

Patrick said that his heart was lifted by the recent words of President Donald Trump.

“We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,” Trump told reporters at a press briefing on Monday.

Trump said that if closures stretch on for months, there would be “probably more death from that than anything that we’re talking about with respect to the virus.”