Prolonging state lockdowns has led to an increase in domestic, drug and alcohol abuse, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway told Newsmax TV.
"Governors, right, left and center, understand how important it is not to have some national shutdown," Conway told Thursday's "Spicer & Co." "That causes its own ill-effects. we're very concerned about what we see in the data, an increase in mental health challenges, in child and spousal abuse, in drug abuse, people feeling isolated, economically desperate, and so we see a spike in those behaviors."
Conway continued: "There's been a 24% increase in alcohol sales, for example. Even if people are using that legally or illegally, the fact is, the president says you can't have the cure be worse than the disease."
The White House on Thursday hosted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who is one of several governors from the left and right who have visited over the past two weeks, according to Conway. She said Trump has made it clear he wants to give input on whether those state leaders should reopen their economies.
"As we gradually and safely reopen, the president has made clear, he wants these governors to continue to consult with him, the vice president and members of the task force, which include economists, doctors and scientists, and other Cabinet members," Conway said. "But at the same time, he knows that governors know best which parts of the state have outbreaks, which ones have higher infection rates, do they all have the surge capacity they would need if God forbid there was another outbreak."
Conway added: "We're up to 40 governors who have said that they have actual plans and intentions to reopen their state's economy. We have some governors, like the five who wrote an op-ed just this week in the midwest who say they completely shut down their state's economies.
"So, all the infection rates obviously haven't been the same," she concluded. "There's no one size fits all."
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