He may or may not be a savior during this coronavirus pandemic, but Democratic Kentucky Govenor Andy Beshear is so much better than the anti-vaccine, chickenpox loving, and anti-science former Governor Matt Bevin. As Josepth Gerth of the Louisville Courier-Journal reminds us, Bevin posted this on his Twitter account on March 11th:

BREAKING NEWS:



Chicken Little has just confirmed that the sky IS indeed falling…



Everyone is advised to take cover immediately and to bring lots of toilet paper with them when they do so… — Matt Bevin (@MattBevin) March 11, 2020

That Tweet is still up over three weeks later.

If Bevin had been reelected in 2019, I imagine we would be one of the remaining few states that has no shelter in place order. In fact, I bet that Bevin would encourage us all to get COVID-19, just like he made all his kids get exposed to other kids who had chickenpox instead of getting them vaccinated. Once again, I thank God he was defeated last year, and I don’t have to deal with him, unlike the citizens of other Republican controlled states.

For example, I read that Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has Arkansas still open for business. In fact, one of his constituents, Autumn Tolber, wrote about this for the Arkansas Times.

But governor, who will shop at Dillard’s when we’re dead? Yesterday, during his daily press conference, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson prioritized keeping Dillard’s open during the COVID-19 pandemic while defending his failure to issue a shelter-in-place order. What exactly is the governor’s goal? Saving as many lives as possible? Or saving a regional department store already struggling? As if we need to run out right now and buy Antonio Melani pantsuits, Polo cologne or Lenox dinner plates anyway. There are a number of reasons Hutchinson and Arkansas Secretary of Health Dr. Nate Smith use to rationalize their lack of action, but their reasoning seems too skewed toward economic health instead of public health. Unfortunately, cuts to social services and other government safety nets in order to provide tax cuts to wealthy Arkansans have hindered the state’s ability to help those in economic peril. No matter how many sporting goods or department stores Hutchinson tries to keep open to try to salvage jobs and the unemployment rate, the damage is done and only going to get worse. The state and federal government waited too long to control the spread of COVID-19 and have failed to provide the economic support needed to workers and families facing crisis after crisis as paychecks have ended, rent is due and the stimulus money may be weeks away.

You need to read the rest of her article.