Abraham praises Trump’s handling of coronavirus

Fifth District Congressman Ralph Abraham, R-Alto, said Thursday that the United States cannot adopt “widespread, long-term measures which cripple our economy and cause millions of Americans to lose their jobs” in its attempt to quell the coronavirus.

Abraham’s comment came in response to an inquiry from the Daily Leader about the president’s statements that he wants the country “opened up and raring to go” by Easter.

Here is Abraham’s statement as provided by his Washington, D. C. office:

“President Trump is doing a great job of managing the coronavirus outbreak and I fully support his decision to provide financial and material support for individual states while allowing them to address the crisis as they see fit.

“As a physician, I support public initiatives to encourage good hygiene and appropriate social distancing, but we cannot adopt widespread, long-term measures which cripple our economy and cause millions of Americans to lose their jobs.”

In a Tweet posted Tuesday, Abraham said he “wholeheartedly” agrees with the Trump’s idea to us use hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, in the treatment of the virus, despite the lack of firm evidence as to whether the drug is effective against the virus.