Notably Quotable: “People are dying who…”

 

“People are dying who have never died before.”

— Donald J. Trump (3/18/20)

*****

“He accepted everything. The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”

— George Orwell, 1984, George Conway Nails Fox News For Its Terrible Coronavirus Coverage With ‘1984’ Quote

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“There are currently less than 100,000 beds right now and most of them are occupied. If there were a need for 200,000 beds and they came within a short period of each other, then we would be in a situation like Italy and Wuhan, China, where they had to ration care…Where healthcare workers had to make difficult decisions about who will get lifesaving care and who will go without.”

— Dr Leana Wen, emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University an former city of Baltimore Public Health Commissioner, Coronavirus: Will US be ready in the weeks ahead?

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“You can use a pair of tweezers to select out those who are infected. Or you can smash your economy with a hammer, because you can’t get your act together. The United States is rolling out hammer after hammer. And the only good thing that can be said about it is that it’s better than nothing—even if it’s far, far less effective, more disruptive, and more costly in lives and dollars than simply testing the hell out of everyone.”

— Mark Sumner, COVID-19: United States breaks 5,000 cases, then 6,000 cases, and 100 deaths … all in the same day

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“The epidemiological disaster is taking place. And there are no more surgeons, urologists, orthopedists, we are only doctors who suddenly become part of a single team to face this tsunami that has overwhelmed us. The cases multiply, we arrive at the rate of 15-20 hospitalizations a day all for the same reason. The results of the swabs now come one after the other: positive, positive, positive. Suddenly the emergency room is collapsing.” 

— Dr. Daniele Macchini,  Italy Has Been Trying To Send Us A Warning. Will We Listen?

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“The time for half measures is over. History will not forgive us for waiting an hour more.”

— San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, US coronavirus cases soar past 8,500 as officials try to head off overwhelming effects

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WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump has tested negative for empathy, the White House doctor confirmed on Monday. In an official statement, Dr. Sean Conley said that Trump submitted to the empathy test even though, in the physician’s opinion, “it was not really necessary.” “I expected him to test negative,” Conley said. “Empathy-wise, he has been entirely asymptomatic.”

— Andy Borowitz, Trump Tests Negative For Empathy

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“As Sanders’ chances at the presidency start to fade, perhaps the most important part of his campaign is about to start: convincing his staunchest supporters, the so-called “Bernie or Bust” crowd, to come out to vote for Biden in November. Because however big Biden’s victory will be in the Democratic primaries, he cannot defeat Trump without the vast majority of Sanders’ supporters.”

— Cas Mudde, Why Bernie Sanders lost Michigan – and what it means for his campaign

*****

“If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.”

— Emma Goldman, anarchist political activist, philosopher and writer.