Galloway: Containing virus is 'most important' issue

Much has changed in Missouri and the nation since Nicole Galloway announced her bid to unseat Gov. Mike Parson on Aug. 12, 2019, exactly a year ago.

“When I launched this campaign, I never could have imagined where we would be today, but I knew then Missouri’s working families needed change and I am even more certain of it now,” said the Democratic state auditor during a socially-distanced and masked campaign stop Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.

The biggest changes, she said, have been in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it’s had on Missouri’s economy and its citizens.

“Nearly 1,300 of our friends and neighbors have lost their lives to this virus since March,” she said. “More than 200,000 of our friends and neighbors are out of work. In rural Missouri, commodity prices and farm incomes are collapsing. Over 100,000 Missourians have lost their health insurance coverage since the beginning of this crisis. Our cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations are all going in the wrong direction.”

And while Galloway said “no politician caused the pandemic,” she blamed “years of failed policies leading up to it” and what she labeled as Parson’s inaction and wrong decisions that “have made it so much worse” than it might have been.

“The most important thing the next governor will have to do is contain the spread of the virus and rebuild Missouri’s economy,” Galloway said. “The question is, will we take the steps needed to defeat the virus and rebuild in a way that helps working people get back on their feet, or will we continue to ignore the science, distract and rebuild only for well-connected special interests?”

Specifically, Galloway said Parson had an opportunity to act sooner than he did in response to the virus outbreak.

“When it became clear this spring that the governor needed to issue a statewide order to flatten the curve, Gov. Parson resisted. He was slow to act,” she said. “Then, in May, he penned an op-ed in The Washington Post, claiming credit for not issuing guidance (and) declaring ‘mission accomplished.’”

Galloway said she’s concerned schools in the state aren’t as prepared to reopen this month as they could have been had the state developed a coordinated reopening plan over the summer.

“As a mom, I’m eager for my kids to get back to in-person learning,” she said. “It’s vital for them. It’s vital for our economy so parents can get back to work. What Gov. Parson doesn’t seem to understand is that this economic crisis is caused by a public health emergency (and) cannot be solved and schools cannot fully reopen for in-person learning until the spread of the virus is contained.”

Galloway called for a stronger emphasis on face masks, testing and contact tracing to help manage coronavirus in Missouri.

She also said expansion of the state’s health care system will be “one of the most important ways we dig ourselves out of this crisis. Medicaid expansion (which Missouri voters approved in a statewide vote last week) will bring billions to this state, create jobs in places that desperately need them, and save our rural hospitals.”

Contrary to the governor’s stated position on Medicaid expansion, Galloway said, “We can expand health care without raising taxes or cutting other programs.”