Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Thursday that the worldwide coronavirus pandemic death rate might exceed the deaths directly caused by World War II, which are estimated to be 50–56 million people.
In an attempt to blame the virus spread on President Donald Trump, Sanders said, “We have an administration that is largely incompetent and whose incompetence and recklessness have threatened the lives of many, many people in our country.”
Sanders said, “Cases of coronavirus continues to grow exponentially here in the United States and around the world, and we have witnessed a global economic meltdown which will impact millions of workers in our own country. In the terms of potential deaths, in terms of the economic impact on our economy, the crisis we face from the coronavirus is on the scale of major war, and we must act accordingly. Nobody knows what the number of fatalities may end up being, or the number of people who may get ill and we all hope that that number will be as low as possible, but we also have to face the truth and that is that the number of casualties may actually be even higher than what the armed forces experienced in World War II.”
He continued, “If our neighbor or co-worker gets sick, we have the potential to become sick. If our neighbor loses his or her job, then our local community suffers, and we may lose our job. We’re in this together. If doctors and nurses and medical personnel do not have the equipment and the training and the capacity they need right now, people may unnecessarily face additional illness and even death. We’re all in this together. Unfortunately, in this time of international crisis, it is clear to me, at least, that we have an administration that is largely incompetent and whose incompetence and recklessness have threatened the lives of many, many people in our country.”
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