"Shut 'em down" means shutting the economy down. I hope you have plenty of cash, ammunition and food cached. If this silliness keeps up much longer, it is gonna get really ugly.
I've been through over 70 years of these epidemics, pandemics, outbreaks, whatever. Taking care of oneself, cleanliness, sanitary and prophylactic health measures will keep you out of the woods. Flu shots every year, and general hygiene work wonders. Alcohol in hand wipes does no good against a virus. Bacteria, yes.
I'll pass on being cooped up in an an aircraft or even a cruise ship. If you keep your guard, keep your overall health in check, even if you come down with the virus, you will survive.
I'm not quite sure where to begin. Your profile indicates you're 73 years old, so you should be very concerned about the current health crisis.
Nobody actually
wants to shut the economy down. I am acutely aware of the devastating effects quarantining/social distancing/isolation is doing to the both the U.S. and global economies and how it will continue to get much worse. However, we as a country need to look at why the economy is crashing so much and who is keeping it running. We have been in a bull market for years and a recession was bound to happen. I agreed with many financial experts who predicted 2020 would bring a recession. It looks like COVID-19 kickstarted that. Now, who is keeping the economy running? The service industry and "blue-collar" workers, including those who are continuing to deliver (often needless) goods to consumers safely cooped up in their house while the workers are out there risking their lives just so they can have food to put on the table, first responders, healthcare, transportation, freight railroads, truck drivers, grocery stores, tech support, defense, pharmacies (which includes medical marijuana dispensaries), food banks, shelters, vets, mail, limited restaurant services, bike shops, and utilities. Notably off this list are liquor stores, which are currently considered "essential" but some states are thinking of closing them, for a multitude of good reasons IMO.
Maybe we should consider actually paying these workers what they're worth and providing basic needs like healthcare, paid sick leave, and other benefits instead of prioritizing stock value and profits over seemingly anything else.
While COVID-19 is not as contagious like some other diseases such as measles, its infection rate is still about 10 times that of the seasonal flu, and that's with a large portion of the population (at least in the U.S.) vaccinated. In addition, the death rate is high for certain age groups, the immunocomprimised (a larger percentage of the population than many think), and new data is starting to come out about a larger portion of younger people being hospitalized and dying from the disease than was previously thought.
Make no mistake, this is an incredibly dire situation and the United States, a developed country with the biggest economy in the world, is exceedingly unprepared for it. However, this isn't going to turn into the apocalypse some are fearing (ammo and other panic buying). Why? Because of the workers I mentioned above keeping the
essential tasks running.
So please, take this seriously. If you'd like to have more debate, let's move this to the general discussion
here or on private message. Thanks!
