U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, is calling for lives to return to normal after “after two years on this hellish highway.”
Speaking from the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, McConnell said we’re reaching the off-ramp as the virus “appears to be heading endemic.”
“Seventy percent of Americans agree with the statement, ‘it’s time we accept that COVID is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives,” he said.
A national state of emergency was ordered by President Trump in March 2020, a move that has been extended by President Biden.
“Even in hard-hit states like Kentucky, where hospitalizations remain too high, the curve of cases and hospitalizations appears to be starting to bend back down,” McConnell said. “I continue to encourage Kentuckians and all Americans to discuss the vaccines with their doctors and take this safe and effective step. It can be the difference between life and death.”
Pointing to the New York Times, McConnell made the argument that with vaccinations COVID has become like a slew of other respiratory illnesses that have been around for years.
“It is time for the state of emergency to wind down,” he said.
“But disturbingly, whether or not we should trust the science and reclaim normalcy is somehow becoming a partisan question,” McConnell said, adding that Americans should trust the science, accept that COVID is here to stay and get on with our lives.
