Political Quotes

“1 million deaths--unbelievable. But this week, it became very, very real. One million of our fellow Americans now have died from COVID, 1 million parents, grandparents, siblings, children, friends, neighbors. That is more Americans who lost their lives than the casualties in World War I, World War II, or the Civil War. That is the size of San Jose, CA, the 10th largest city in our Nation. But behind those 7 stark figures are real people, including more than 33,600 in my home State of Illinois. One of those was a woman named Maria Elena Sifuentes. Maria lived in Chicago, where she worked at Communities United and organized for housing and education equity in her community. She had received her first COVID shot when she contracted the virus last summer. She passed away on June 10 at the age of 57 and left behind five children. We also grieve the loss of Sergeant Ken Thurman and Officer Brian Shields, two 51-year-old veteran police officers who worked in Aurora at the police department. They succumbed to COVID infections last year, both within the same week. When the pandemic first hit, this degree of loss was unimaginable. Some people dismissed COVID-19 and said that it was just like the ordinary flu and that it would go away and mysteriously disappear. But now that we have crossed this tragic threshold, we must take stock of where we are and where we are headed. More than 2 years into this pandemic, COVID is still a threat to America and the world.…”