Wednesday on CNN, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the coronavirus pandemic was worse than both 9/11 and the 2008 stock market crash.
Host Anderson Cooper said, “Senator Schumer, after 9/11, the terrible days right after 9/11, there was an extraordinary spirit, not only in the country but in New York City. It was a privilege to be in New York at that time, to stay with the city, and to watch the people come together. Citizenship seems to be more important now than it has been for a long time in our lives. Can you talk to people about what that means? Whether it’s New York or somewhere else? To be a good citizen right now?”
Schumer said, “I have lived through 9/11. I lost three friends that I knew in the towers. I was there through the crash of 2008, but this is the worst of all for a variety of reasons. First, we’re uncertain as to what is going to happen. There was some uncertainty after 9/11, in the days after we were worried we might be attacked again, but it’s not the same as this. How long is this going to last? Who does it affect? We’re not even certain when or who it affects. We’re just learning that children can be affected by the illness. So there’s that. And then there’s isolation. What New Yorkers—Americans like to come together as we did after 9/11, in times of crisis, but here you can’t. You’re not supposed to be near other people, because obviously, it spreads the disease. I urge people to make sure they keep their distance. But it’s much harder. Having said that, I believe in the spirit of New Yorkers. I’ve talked to a lot of people on the telephone today, and people are willing to do what it takes and overcome this virus and once again bounce back. After 9/11, a lot of people said New York would never bounce back, and we came back bigger and stronger.”
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