March 25, 2020 - Dennis Prager Show
08:03
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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Think about that. | |
| The things that we took for granted. | |
| I know this will sound awful because it sounds so self-referential, but if you've listened to me at all, you know I walk around in a perpetual state of gratitude because I know how everything can be lost overnight. | |
| I just know it. | |
| I don't feel it. | |
| I don't suspect it'll happen. | |
| I don't walk around pessimistic. | |
| I simply know the fragility of civilization. | |
| That's why when civilizations are battered from within, as ours has been and will continue to be, I worry because I know how everything can change in such a fast, in such a small period of time. | |
| A realization deep in my soul and my consciousness. | |
| That is why we have the motto at this show, If nothing's horrific, life is terrific. | |
| Now you realize how accurate that is. | |
| Now, does this qualify as horrific? | |
| Obviously, for those suffering. | |
| It is horrific, actually. | |
| And I don't only mean those suffering. | |
| From the coronavirus. | |
| Most people suffering from the coronavirus don't even know that they have it. | |
| So they're not suffering. | |
| I mean, obviously there are who are terribly suffering. | |
| But I'm actually referring to the many, many millions who are suffering economically. | |
| That's a very serious form of suffering. | |
| The dismissal of this as, oh, Republicans only care about the stock market, means that they don't care about the average guy whose restaurant is closed, the average waiter. | |
| I don't know anybody who is preoccupied with the suffering, the economic suffering, who is thinking about their stocks only, or even their stocks at all. | |
| We're thinking about the small businesses. | |
| Not only the heart and soul of the economy, they are the heart and soul of America. | |
| The entrepreneur, the man or woman who starts a business, puts their life into it, and then out of nowhere, well, no, not really, out of China, comes this virus. | |
| Is the world's response? | |
| India, 1.2 billion people, I believe, is being shut down for three weeks or a month. | |
| Which one is it? | |
| Three weeks, let's say. | |
| Do you know what's suffering these people? | |
| There are so many people in India, hundreds of millions, who are on the brink of abject poverty to begin with. | |
| They won't be paid anything. | |
| I don't know what they'll do. | |
| It's a very, very real question. | |
| It's a moral dilemma. | |
| It is not the Andrew Cuomo belief that if we save one life, it is all worth it. | |
| He said something analogous. | |
| I should have marked it. | |
| I do so much reading. | |
| By the way, you really should all read my column suggestions for this difficult time. | |
| I should go through those suggestions to make it an easier time for you. | |
| I will. | |
| I'll call up the article. | |
| I have another thick stack of things to bring to your attention. | |
| The Israel equivalent of the New York Times is Haaretz. | |
| Haaretz is a left-wing and prestigious paper like the New York Times is a left-wing prestigious paper. | |
| So I just want you to know where the source is. | |
| This is the headline. | |
| I couldn't believe it. | |
| They hate Donald Trump. | |
| They hate Benjamin Netanyahu. | |
| And here's the title. | |
| Trump is right about the coronavirus. | |
| The WHO is wrong, says Israeli expert. | |
| Did you catch that article? | |
| Is that astonishing? | |
| Trump is right. | |
| Who is wrong? | |
| Who's on first? | |
| It is about Dr. Dan Yamin. | |
| Dr. Dan Yamin encountered the first real epidemiological crisis while doing postdoctoral work at the Center of Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis at Yale University's School of Public Health. | |
| Alright, so those are your credentials of Dr. Yamin. | |
| Yamin currently heads the Laboratory for Epidemic Modeling and Analysis at Tel Aviv University's engineering faculty. | |
| His primary field of work is development of models for the spread of infectious diseases with an emphasis on viruses responsible for respiratory ailments such as flu and RSV, respiratory synchytial virus, which causes bronchitis. | |
| He is actually somewhat optimistic about the model he has developed for the spread of the coronavirus, which is also a respiratory disease. | |
| With the majority of viruses, if you're infected, this is him speaking, You won't be reinfected because of immunological memory. | |
| And if you are infected again, the symptoms will be less acute the second time. | |
| The exception to the rule is influenza. | |
| The regular flu, if you will. | |
| Its mutation frequency is so high that you can be infected by it year after year. | |
| Last year alone, the flu underwent 17 mutations. | |
| I continue now with the report. | |
| Now listen to this. | |
| I bold what I read to you, and I underline on rare occasions for truly, truly important points. | |
| And I quote Dr. Yamin. | |
| The actual number of people who are sick with the virus in South Korea is at least double what's being reported. | |
| So the chance of dying is at least twice as low, standing at about 0.45%, very far from the World Health Organization's global mortality figure of 3.4%. | |
| And that's already a reason for cautious optimism. | |
| Less than half of 1% is the mortality rate according to this epidemiological Yale postdoctoral Tel Aviv University scholar. | |
| Remember what I said in the very beginning? |
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