Sanders Burlington Speech Compares Corona Virus to WWII

Bernie Sanders Suggests COVID-19 Death Rate Could Top WWII Armed Forces Casualties

(sputniknews March 13 2020)

https://sputniknews.com/us/202003131078561941-bernie-sanders-suggests-covid-19-death-rate-could-top-wwii-armed-forces-casualties/

The Vermont Senator’s remarks come as the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread to over 130 countries and territories, infected more than 138,000 people and killed over 5,000 worldwide, including in the United States, where at least 41 deaths have been registered along with over 1,600 infections.

Democratic US Senator and presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, during a speech in Burlington, Vermont, on Thursday, suggested that the potential death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic could override the total number of armed forces casualties in World War II.

“The crisis we face from the coronavirus is on a scale of a major war, and we must act accordingly,” Sanders said. “The number of casualties may actually be even higher than what the armed forces experienced in World War II. In other words, we have a major, major crisis and we must act accordingly”.

The presidential candidate said that “we also have to face the truth”, adding that he hopes that “number will be as low as possible”.

World War II saw the death of over 20 million soldiers worldwide, including some 400,000 deaths among US troops. The Senator did not clarify whether he meant every country or just the US.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the potential for infection by COVID-19 in the country to range between 160 million and 214 million people. The worst-case scenario US death rate was estimated be between 200,000 and 1.7 million, according to The New York Times.

Sanders’s warnings were described by some netizens as “highly irresponsible and dangerous!”.

Some twitter responses in article:

This is highly irresponsible and dangerous!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. HE IS A COMMUNIST!!

This is so irresponsible for someone like this to get up here and see this crap

I’m glad @BernieSanders is working hard to keep the American people calm.

World War II -

75 million deaths worldwide

60 million Allied deaths

40 million citizen deaths

20 million military deaths

15 million Axis deaths

420,000 American deaths

He is predicting 420,000 in US and 20 million around the globe.

This is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard a person say.

420,000 Americans are estimated to have died in WWII … so far Coronavirus has claimed 44 … this is socialism math at its finest.

(article has the short clip)

Sanders also forgot that Congress did not pass appropriation funding for the CDC until Dec 19.