LINWOOD, NJ — Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Hirsh Singh called for the calibrated reopening of the New Jersey economy and ending the lockdown of the state. While speaking to his supporters, Singh presented his plan that would not only open up the economy, but also help contain the spread of COVID-19.

According to Singh’s plan, we should continue all efforts to contain and control the virus in the areas that have been hit the hardest, but in areas where we have healthy low-risk individuals able to work and which have not been as seriously hit as the areas adjoining New York City, we must immediately start reopening for humanitarian, constitutional, and economic reasons even as we put social distancing norms into place and maintain such norms.

“COVID-19 is deadly and must be taken seriously, but there is no value in burning down the metaphorical village to save it. Quarantine used to be for sick people, now it is being used wrongly for healthy people,” said Singh.

According to Singh, we are quickly approaching a “point of no return” for the economy and American way of life, as almost 26 million people are now unemployed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. As the United States, unlike many other nations in the world, is not dependent on a public transportation system, maintaining such social distancing measures “can be achieved,” he added.

Singh pointed to the examples of societies in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Czech Republic, all of which are maintaining safe social distancing without crippling their economies. He specifically pointed out that Taiwan was exposed weeks before New York City and has a greater population than NYC and the North Jersey regions but has only a fraction of the COVID-19 incidents. “The U.S. should be leading. Instead, we have orchestrated a depression,” said Singh.

Turning to the effects of the lockdown, Singh stated that it is the middle class and the poor who are being utterly crushed by this economic shutdown.

“People are running out of credit and cash reserves, while small businesses of all sorts are going to cease to exist if re-opening doesn’t occur. Bailouts and stimulus checks in perpetuity are not sustainable and are utterly inconsistent with the free enterprise system and American way of life.”

Singh then predicted how the bottom would fall out of the economy, saying that “the stimulus checks in areas like New Jersey are worth less than an average location’s monthly rent. Mortgages, rent payments, car payments will default, and banks will fail due to this. We could even see a breakdown of law and order as people won’t be able to buy food. The lockdown could also lead to an artificial famine as we are seeing a breakdown of the food supply chain.”

Singh ended his talk by saying that following our Founding Fathers has always been the best approach to handling problems and right now is no different. He pointed out that the lockdown was in direct violation of the United States Constitution and called for the stay at home order to end.