Coronavirus: America is NOT under martial law! Marco Rubio slams hoax, says rumors work of internet trolls
Florida Senator Marco Rubio has said there is no way the government is going to implement martial law to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and warned that even rumors about it happening is dangerous.
The 48-year-old Rubio, who is also the chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, spoke to TMZ at the Reagan National Airport, Virginia, where he called the talks about the deployment of soldiers an absolute hoax -- something which has been created more by Internet trolls.
When the Republican senator was asked about the situation in places like San Francisco where the residents have been put on round-the-clock curfew for the next three weeks to prevent further outbreak of the virus and people can be arrested for violating it, Rubio said it is different from martial law. San Francisco city authorities declared a state of emergency last month citing the city’s close proximity to China, the country of the coronavirus’ origin, and the high level of traveling between it and China.
Rubio said martial law, where the government control is handed over to the army, doesn’t exist anymore in the US and ruled out a change in the status quo. He said there are “smart people” who have been hitting him up all day while being worried about martial law.
New York City Mayor Andrew Cuomo recently wrote to President Donald Trump to mobilize the military to fight the spread of coronavirus. Seventy-five people have died in the US while over 4,000 have been affected while more than 7,000 people have died worldwide and 0.8 million affected.
Trump admits pandemic can push economy into recession
President Trump meanwhile acknowledged for the first time that the pandemic may send the economy into a recession and suggested the country might be dealing with the virus till July or August. The president, who is seeking re-election this year, has faced a massive challenge of protecting America from the health disaster and has come under criticism that he is losing control of the situation. He released a series of sweeping guidelines on Monday, March 16, that will be ruling America’s societal norms for the next fortnight.