SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News)- Mayor Ron Nirenberg is firing back at Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick for comments he made suggesting that he’d rather take his chances at coronavirus than see the economy fail.
Patrick told Fox News that he’s not living in fear of COVID-19. He said he’s “all in” on letting businesses continue to operate to keep the economy going.
“No one reached out to me and said, ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’ And if that is the exchange, I’m all in,” said Patrick, whose age of 69 puts him in a high risk category for COVID -19.
“It’s easy for someone of power and privilege to say something so callous,” Nirenberg said on CNN. “What Dan Patrick is coming to learn is something that most Americans have known for a long time, which is, a single health event can become catastrophic.”
“I would tell you as Mayor of San Antonio, I’m not willing to sacrifice any one of my residents, let alone those workers on the front lines of this battle, the health care workers, or the 100,000 -plus veterans in this community who are older Americans, who have served this country. It’s time that we step up and serve them,” Nirenberg said.
"It is easy for someone of power and privilege to say something so callous," San Antonio Mayor @Ron_Nirenberg says in response to TX Gov. Dan Patrick saying that he is "not living in fear" from coronavirus and is ready to lift social distancing measures. https://t.co/HquY6BSUyl pic.twitter.com/AY8I7luGZl — CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) March 24, 2020
"It is easy for someone of power and privilege to say something so callous," San Antonio Mayor @Ron_Nirenberg says in response to TX Gov. Dan Patrick saying that he is "not living in fear" from coronavirus and is ready to lift social distancing measures. https://t.co/HquY6BSUyl pic.twitter.com/AY8I7luGZl
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) March 24, 2020