May 11, 2020
The Hon. William Barr
Attorney General of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Mr. Barr:
Earlier in the year, when the Wuhan coronavirus first began spreading across the globe, images out of hard-hit countries like Italy, and unknowns about lethality and contagiousness, made an (over)abundance of caution seem prudent. Experts predicted over a million US deaths and an inundated health care system, with insufficient mechanical ventilators and patients dying untreated in hallways.
None of this has come to pass. In fact, the impact of this pandemic in the US is markedly similar to those in the fairly recent past, including the H2N2 pandemic of 1957-58, or the “Hong Kong Flu” of 1968. In neither case were there widespread shutdowns of entire industry sectors with the associated economic damage. In fact, today they are widely forgotten.
Here in “hard-hit” Connecticut, no more than 1972 out of 8847 staffed hospital beds were ever occupied by virus patients – and that 8847 does not include any of the special facilities hastily built to accommodate an expected surge of cases – and that census has been steadily dropping, 1212 as of today. Beyond virus patients, not many more beds are occupied, due to cancelation of “elective” procedures (often to the detriment of the health of the patient).
Yet many governors – including Ned Lamont – carry on with emergency powers and closures. A state of emergency requires a bona fide emergency to exist, and not merely in the mind of the executive. That was posited to be the possibility of collapsing the health care system under the weight of virus patients, a fear that was not only unfounded but ridiculously so. Yet the closures are in place, creating both an economic and health care (for other than the virus) catastrophe of epic proportions. Neither do these governors show any signs on relenting – they are speaking of keeping restrictions in place for months – nor is there rhyme or reason behind many of these restrictions: they are in many cases textbook capricious and arbitrary.
Article Four, Section 4, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution states: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government[…]” A gubernatorial dictatorship is NOT a republican form of government.
Furthermore, the damage done by the response to this virus threatens to eclipse the damage of the virus itself, in spheres personal (untreated illnesses, increases in suicides and substance abuse, etc.) and economic (many businesses simply will not survive being shut down for months). These very personal tragedies, when summed, become not only a national tragedy but a threat to our national security.
Nor is there reason to believe these restrictions are at all effective. There are differences in response in the United States – and internationally – and in many cases those places that took de minimis action are no worse outcome, and in many cases are better off, than those that imposed draconian restrictions.
Therefore, I am imploring you to put the full force of the United States Department of Justice behind compelling these governors – including Ned Lamont – to rescind their executive orders.
Respectfully,
A Certain SpaceCritter
Cc: The Hon. Ned Lamont, Governor, State of Connecticut
The Hon. Eric C. Berthel, Connecticut State Senate
The Hon. David K. Labriola, Connecticut House of Representatives
Waterbury Republican-American newspaper, Waterbury, Connecticut
file
Enclosures:
Chart: Connecticut COVID-19 New Deaths and Hospitalization Changes
Chart: Percent of Connecticut Hospital Beds Occupied by COVID-19 Patients
Chart: Daily New COVID-19 Cases in Connecticut