ICYMI: Congressman Allen
Holds Telephone Town Hall

WASHINGTON – Congressman Rick W. Allen (GA-12) held a telephone town hall Wednesday morning to update residents of Georgia's 12th District about the Older Americans Act, lowering the cost of prescription drug prices, and Operation Warp Speed’s progress in developing a COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Stephen Goggans, District Health Director of the East Central Health District, joined Congressman Allen to provide an update on COVID-19 testing and developments. For those who were unable to participate in the call, here are some of the highlights:

Joe in Rincon asked how we can restore law and order in cities across the country.

Congressman Allen: “Obviously the President has asked the Governors of these states, and the mayors of these cities [to] bring about law and order and restore… peaceful demonstrations, which, again, peaceful demonstrations are a way of life in America and we’ve seen that over the years. You know, there are some organizations loosely knit together out there that have hijacked the First Amendment to destroy property, particularly federal property, or anything they can consider authoritarian, and of course, this is anarchy. And as the Attorney General Barr said yesterday in the hearing, you know, this is against the law. It has to be stopped and the President has sent in some reinforcement to help defend federal properties.”

Louis in Martinez asked when he should wear a mask to mitigate exposure to COVID-19.

Dr. Goggans: “The first question about exercising, I think it would not be necessary to wear a mask when you’re walking outside by yourself. I encourage you to walk; it’s good for your mental and physical health. Maybe keep one in your pocket in case you see someone you end up striking up a conversation with.

“As to visits, I do think it would be wise for your family to wear a mask while they are visiting. Or even visiting outside if the weather is friendly enough to do that. The reason I say that is because the mask is particularly good at preventing someone from spreading the virus to you. With what you’ve told us about your medical history and so forth, that would be the most important thing. So if they could wear a mask, it would limit the chance of them spreading it to you.”

Sally in Claxton asked how we can ensure students don’t miss another school year due to the coronavirus.

Congressman Allen: “Obviously we have studied this, and we have talked with educators across the country, which I have only been here a short time, but I am the senior Republican on the K-12 subcommittee of the Education and Labor committee and this subject does come up quite a bit, about the best way to educate our children.

“Number one is we’ve got to get serious about getting our kids back to school here in August. As you know, across the country there is varying opinion on that and unfortunately the teachers union has made a strong statement against reopening schools… this has also created a tremendous interest from parents in the education of their children… They are very interested in the education process, which has brought about another discussion on education choice.”

Curt in Dublin asked if masks are effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Goggans: "…I’m stressing there are benefits in preventing spread. They are actually very beneficial to preventing someone that has the virus to spread the virus because it traps the bigger aerosol droplets like you would produce when you’re coughing or speaking, and that is the key way that it spreads. So for people that may have it and be asymptomatic, it is a very valuable tool to prevent them from spreading to others. If everybody was wearing a mask, that would limit asymptomatic and symptomatic persons from spreading it around."

Emma in Claxton asked how her family can receive help regarding issues with Medicaid.

Congressman Allen: “Let us help you with that, and I will give you a telephone number to call and we will put one of our staff on this and you will have to fill out some paperwork and we will figure out what is going on there because like you are saying, that is just not right. This is our district office number: 706-228-1980.”

For more information and a list of coronavirus resources, visit Congressman Allen’s COVID-19 page at allen.house.gov/covid-19.