Rush Limbaugh: Coronavirus is like the common cold, and “all of this panic is just not warranted”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Rush Limbaugh: Coronavirus is like the common cold, and "all of this panic is just not warranted"

From the March 11, 2020, edition of Premiere Radio Network's The Rush Limbaugh Show

RUSH LIMBAUGH (HOST): But I’m telling you, folks, I have — there’s so many red flags about things happening out there. This coronavirus, they’re just — all of this panic is just not warranted. This, I’m telling you, when I tell you — when I’ve told you that this virus is the common cold. When I said that, it was based on the number of cases. It’s also based on the kind of virus this is. Why do you think this is “COVID-19”? This is the 19th coronavirus. They’re not uncommon. Coronaviruses are respiratory cold and flu viruses. There is nothing about this, except where it came from, and the itinerant media panic that — you can’t blame people reacting the way they’re reacting, if they pay any, even scant attention to the media.

If you read just two or three media headlines a day — pick one, pick two, pick three at random — you’re going to think that if you leave your home you’ve got a good chance of dying — and you don’t. But I can’t  — there’s no way we here can stop a panic. There’s no way we can talk sense into a panic. I wouldn’t even try. But I’m telling you, just  — to me, this is just a gigantic series of question marks and red flags, all this stuff that is — it’s just the timing of it, the objective — the gleeful, gleeful attitudes in the media about this, the gleeful attitudes that Democrat leaders have about this.

I’ll tell you what’s really more scary than anything, is how the American people — some Americans, I don’t know how many it is, seem to be okay with being told they can’t do this, and they can’t go there and you've got to stay here, and we’re gonna quarantine you there, and we’re gonna wrap you up over there, we’re gonna put you in this cocoon here, and you can’t leave and you — “Okay, okay, fine with me!” No, not okay.

Do you think Andrew Cuomo knows what’s best for you? He put this little quarantine around New Rochelle. I mean, it’s just, this is just — too much of this, to me, appears to be made-to-order for objectives that have long been held by the American left, the Democrat Party, the media, what have you.

I tell you what, let me take a brief timeout. And — here, before the timeout — in Chicago, the mayor of Chicago has just announced that they’re not gonna dye the Chicago River green. It’s St. Patrick’s Day next week. They’re gonna eliminate it. They do it every year. They dye the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day. They’re not gonna do that. The downtown parade and the South Side Irish Parade have all been postponed, as part of this weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day. Over a hundred thousand people were expected to fly to Chicago. They’re not gonna go to Chicago. South by Southwest gets canceled, the mayor in Austin cancels it, and shortly after then starts begging people who live in Austin, “Hey, go ahead and go outside. Go ahead and go patronize some of our businesses. Go ahead, and go out to eat.”

Well, okay. If it’s okay to do that, why did you cancel South by Southwest? “Well, because the inertia was set in motion.” We’re gonna be canceling everything. We’re canceling everything we’re gonna do, any public meeting. We’re gonna play basketball games with no crowds. The baseball season’s coming up. We’re gonna play baseball games with no fans in the stands. How long is it gonna be before the NFL decides, “You know what? We’re gonna do studio only. No fans allowed in any of our stadiums.”

Where does this end? Especially when you realize there are diseases out there that kill many more than are being killed by this — and the people that are suffering mostly from this are elderly people who already have respiratory problems of one kind or another.

Anyway, look, I’m sure you can tell I’ve got to be very careful how I navigate this. Because the media is just waiting for people to come along and act like it isn’t a big deal, so they can point fingers. Now, I am fully aware of this, folks, but you know me. I can’t fake it in here, and I can’t act out things that I don’t believe. Well, actually, I probably could. You know, J.R. Ewing, “Once you fake integrity, the rest is easy.” And I don’t like going down that road, I don’t even want to have to try.