“As a rough average, during pre-pandemic life, 5 to 7 percent of people met the criteria for a diagnosis of depression. Now, depending how you define the condition, orders of magnitude more people do. Robert Klitzman, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, extrapolates from a recent Lancet study in China to estimate that about 50 percent of the U.S. population is experiencing depressive symptoms. ‘We are witnessing the mental-health implications of massive disease and death,’ he says. This has the effect of altering the social norm by which depression and other conditions are defined. Essentially, this throws off the whole definitional rubric.”

“The second day I was sick, I woke up to what felt like hot tar buried deep in my chest. I could not get a deep breath unless I was on all fours. I’m healthy. I’m a runner. I’m 33 years old.”

“I want Americans to understand that this virus is making otherwise young, healthy people very, very sick. I want them to know, this is no flu.”

“And yet, accusing a cable news host of murder is not the most insane thing that happened in Trump world over the last 24 hours. That would be his meltdown yesterday at a press conference, in which he abruptly walked off after a couple of “nasty” reporters (women, obviously) asked him harder questions than he wished to answer.”

“Every day, I ask him to tell me about something he knows that I don’t. What is that bird calling in the hedge? How does a meadowlark learn to sing? How does soap kill a virus? Where does courage come from? The only question he hasn’t been able to answer is: How will I live without you?”

“The real question is less philosophical (Are you willing to ‘cost your constituents their lives’?) than practical (What is your tolerance for some uncertain number of additional deaths against some certain benefits of resuming regular life?).”