OREGON SHUTDOWN: SUICIDE, CRIME UP 39%. 8 States Did Not Shut Sown and Have Not Suffered For It
Wednesday April 29, 2020
— There is a huge human cost to the shutdown
Taxpayers Association of OregonOregonWatchdog.com
The shutdown is having a terrible cost of increasing suicide calls, domestic violence, and business break-ins.
Domestic violence:
Portland Police are reporting a 32-39% increase in domestic violence. A Portland area Domestic Violence prevention service, Call to Safety, reported receiving over 200 calls in one 12-hour-period which was quadruple the normal call volume.
Shootings and business break-ins:
They are also witnessing a large increase in shootings and business break-ins according to KOIN-TV news.
The total number of business breaks ins increased by more than 90% generally in the Portland area during the March shutdown.
These small businesses are already suffering from a loss of customers and employees.
Added destruction and theft to these vulnerable small businesses at the worst possible time will be the final blow that pushes even more to bankruptcy which creates more layoffs, more misery, more domestic violence, more poverty, and more suicide calls.
Suicide calls:
The most tragic and heartbreaking factor is the rise in suicide attempts.
The number of suicide calls into Portland area 911 rose over 40% during the shutdown in March according to the Oregonian.
Human lives and misery are now at both sides of the scales of this terrible pandemic.
We need to do everything humanly possible to reduce the health threat and the suicide/crime threat at the same time.
This is why the Taxpayer Association of Oregon has been distributing thousands of masks and bottles of hand sanitizers statewide while also pushing hard for re-opening plans — (See our 7 point plan to re-open Oregon).
8 States Did Not Shut Sown and Have Not Suffered For It:
The leaders of Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming have taken some steps to limit the size of gatherings to 50, have schools regulate class sizes to 20, and some nonessential businesses have been told to restrict seating and prohibit on-site dining at restaurants if tables can't be separated by six feet.
They have stopped far short of directing residents to stay home except for essential business.
The Republican governors in those states have strongly defended their decisions with some rather impressive COVID stats, arguing that their hospitals aren't “overrun” or even burdened and their states haven't been hit as hard as others with urban centers, such as New York, Washington or Louisiana.
The governors have said they aren't going to hurt small businesses, the mental and physical health of the population, the school systems, the state economy, or infringe on any individual freedoms.
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