State Rep. Jim Gooch received applause from fellow Republicans after a House floor speech Wednesday defending the legislature's decision to continue meeting amid the pandemic, urging Kentuckians to continue living their lives as normal.

While some have called on the Kentucky General Assembly to join the 21 state legislatures that have postponed legislative sessions — abiding by the White House recommendation to avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people — the Republican supermajority is pushing forward with the session, scheduled to last until April 15.

Following a floor speech by a Democratic member who said the body continuing to meet was "whistling past the graveyard" and setting a bad example for the public, Gooch spoke up to say postponement would be an overreaction and "like a captain abandoning ship."

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While conceding there is a "medical emergency," Gooch said, "we do run the risk of mass hysteria when we try to make make people believe that we can't continue the business that we need to."

Kentucky now has 35 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and one death, with Gov. Andy Beshear declaring an emergency and ordering many businesses, such as bars and restaurants, to shut down.

Every school district and university in the state has stopped in-person classes, and everything from church services to sporting events have been cancelled.

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Gooch, R-Providence, went further with an implied 9/11 reference, saying that Americans should confront the coronavirus in the same way it has confronted terrorist attacks — by not letting it disrupt their normal routines.

"This nation has faced lots of crises, you know, whether it be the terrorist attacks or whatever," Gooch said. "But the one thing that really united us when we faced those things was that we had resolve that we were not going to let terrorists or anybody else... destroy our normalcy. And the one thing that was so, I guess, the common denominator in our ability to overcome this thing, was that we could live our lives as normal as possible."

He went on to say that he worries most about the economic devastation caused by business closings and bankruptcies, which could end up affecting "a lot more people than the people that got sick."

Referencing unspecified measures that have been taken in reaction to the coronavirus that he deemed "prudent," Gooch went on to say that other states have gone overboard.

"We've seen situations where people in authority have said 'oh, because of this crisis, you can no longer buy ammunition, you can no longer buy guns.'" Gooch said.

While no cities or states in America have banned the sales of guns and ammunition, misinformation has spread online about the mayor of Champaign, Illinois, supposedly doing so through her emergency declaration.

Gooch's speech resembled that of Kentucky's former Gov. Matt Bevin, who has tweeted criticism in the past few weeks of "hysteria" and "Chicken Little" overreactions to COVID-19.

While the General Assembly continued to meet and pass bills this week following a two-day postponement on Friday and Monday, they have restricted access to meetings and chamber galleries for anyone other than legislators, staff and credentialed media.

Republican Senate President Robert Stivers recently had a scare after feeling ill and having a fever over the weekend. He was tested for the coronavirus and briefly self-quarantined until the test came back negative. He returned to preside over the Senate Tuesday.

Rep. Daniel Elliott, R-Danville, posted on Facebook Thursday he would not attend the legislative session that day after "feeling unwell" that morning and the previous evening, instead "isolating myself and practicing social distancing in light of the coronavirus."

Beshear and Democratic legislators have said that if Republicans insist on continuing the legislative session, they should solely focus on passing the state's two-year budget or on bills that are directly related to improving Kentucky's response to the coronavirus.

However, Republicans have continued to pass a flurry of unrelated bills since returning Tuesday, including one that passed out of committee Thursday that seeks to amend the state constitution in a manner that allows the legislature to call itself into a special session, which currently can only be called by the governor.

Stivers and House Speaker David Osborne have countered that it is their constitutional obligation to pass a wide variety of important bills.

Osborne has said he would adjourn the session if Beshear called an open-ended special session for them to meet later, though Beshear said he would only do so if the special session was narrowly tasked to the state budget and matters related to the coronavirus.

On Wednesday, Osborne gave a fiery floor speech that called Democrats "hypocrites" for requesting their non-coronavirus bills be voted on that day, saying they were more interested in scoring political points.

A joint statement from House Democratic leadership said legislators need to set a better example for their constituents on public gatherings, either working quickly on the most important bills or going home.

“It is not hysteria wanting to be safe when fighting a highly contagious virus," read the Democrats' statement. "Kentucky is ahead of the game, and we want to keep it that way."

Asked about Gooch's floor speech on Thursday, Osborne told The Courier Journal he didn't get a chance to hear it, as he wasn't on the House floor.

A KET video feed of Gooch's speech shows that Osborne began addressing the chamber just seconds later.

Reporters Morgan Watkins and Mandy McLaren contributed to this story.

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com or 502-582-4472 and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courierjournal.com/subscribe.