WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, says a complete lockdown of businesses in Iowa may be "the safer move to take" during the coronavirus pandemic.
Local 5 sat down for a Skype interview with the congresswoman on Monday.
Axne says one of the biggest issues the country is facing is the lack of personal protective equipment, or PPE.She said PPE is important not only for hospital workers and first responders, but for other service jobs like grocery work.
"We need to make sure that those folks who are literally serving the rest of us during this time where we're staying in or teleworking actually have that protective equipment that they need," Axne said.
Axne said some of the blame is on President Donald Trump for not moving some of that equipment out of federal storage.
"He's asking the states to take the reins in getting the personal protective equipment out. We need the president to move forward with allowing the Department of Defense's authority to keep this country safe," Axne explained.
Axne said she wants to work with Gov. Kim Reynolds to keep Iowans safe, but she thinks Iowa needs to consider shutting down all businesses to mitigate any more spread of COVID-19.
"We're moving towards shelter in place, anyhow. We're continually adding groups on different types of businesses that can't operate, we may be better off to cut our losses and just do it now so that we can get through this more quickly," Axne said.
The congresswoman said the longer people are able to go to these businesses, the more the virus could spread. She doesn't know the exact timing of when a shut down should happen, but she did say that it "may be the safer move to take."