Saying he believes the General Assembly is having “a major outbreak” of coronavirus cases, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that legislators need to take more preventive precautions.
“I think everybody should be wearing a mask,” Beshear said when asked at a press conference if lawmakers should do more. “I think a ton of legislators have had COVID in the last week or so, based on the numbers of folks that are voting remotely, based on them having to take a day off from the General Assembly because so many people had COVID.
“I mean, dear Lord, put on a mask if you know a bunch of people around you have COVID. It’s just basic protections. We don’t have to be tougher than the person next to us. Nobody is watching us to see how scared or not scared we are. This isn’t some test of masculinity. I mean, it is a virus; wear a mask. It protects you, but hey, if you’ve got it and even if you don’t know it, you wanna spread it to the person next to you that might have a terrible reaction to it? It’d be terrible to be in the legislature and to lose a seatmate to your right or to your left.”
Beshear noted that he has made testing available to everyone in the Capitol.
“If they’re unwilling to wear a mask, at least get tested every day so you know that you’re not potentially exposing people around you,” he said. “But remember, if the person next to you hasn’t been tested, you need to wear a mask to make sure you have all of that protection.”
Noting that his executive branch is masked up, the Democratic governor said, “We have not had a major outbreak that I think they’re seeing on the legislative side. That’s because masks work.”
House Speaker David Osborne told Kentucky Health News, “While we do not comment on the private health status of individual legislators, I would caution the governor and anyone else who makes an assumption based on the use of remote voting and a change in our legislative schedule. Assumptions are dangerous and contribute nothing.
“In fact, the decision to change the legislative calendar was made when we decided to meet on Saturday, Jan. 8 but was contingent on the governor presenting his budget recommendations. Let me also stress that we have used remote learning and other methods since the beginning of the pandemic and will continue to do so at our discretion.”
Al Cross is professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Kentucky. He was the longest-serving political writer for the Louisville Courier Journal (1989-2004) and national president of the Society of Professional Journalists in 2001-02. He joined the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 2010. The NKyTribune is the home for his commentary which is also offered to other publications.
