On March 3rd, I called for the Governor to expand Medicaid now to ensure that Nebraskans who have symptoms can receive care they need and reduce the spread, help people get back to work, and create jobs.

It's good policy in normal times, and CRITICAL policy in a pandemic.

On April 24th, Nebraska experienced its worst day up until that date of confirmed cases for COVID-19, with 401 reported cases. The next day, Governor Ricketts made an announcement: it’s time to get back to work.

Today we are up to 12,355 confirmed cases.

In Nebraska, restaurants, salons, and places of worship have returned to service with new social distancing guidelines in place. Workers are forced to risk their health or give up their jobs and benefits.

This is the tragedy of government without compassion or common sense.

We have over 90,000 Nebraskans in the Medicaid gap and over 141,000 completely uninsured. If these people--many of them essential workers--get sick, how will they pay? How will they take time off?

This pandemic has not passed, but for many, the safety net has.

And while the state asks Nebraskans to risk their health because the state thinks the situation is under control, our own legislature still does not believe it is safe for us to return to do the jobs we were elected to do. Technology can make this possible, but we have no plan.

With the Nebraska Legislature currently in a suspended session because of COVID-19, the ability to pursue our priorities through legislation is on pause. But we all see that the public is in desperate need of updated and accurate information.

My office has continued working full time through this crisis to educate and advocate for the public in alternative ways. We’re doing everything we can to provide accurate information and comfort. 90% of our work now is constituent services, and also now preparing to reconvene.

Everyone deserves safe work, paid leave, + a living wage. Congress needs to take dramatic action now to stave off the worst public health and economic effects, including debt relief, guaranteeing healthcare, detention relief, + more.

This is how we thank our essential workers.

And, for those saying "So when do we reopen?" or accusing me of never wanting to reopen...ridiculous. Nobody wants to prolong this economic disaster. Nobody wants people to lose their businesses. I've addressed this before in this thread: https://twitter.com/NebraskaMegan/status/1263624724732575744