I want to start by giving a shout out to President Trump. Not everything he does is horrible. Recently he had a decent press conference, said a lot of good things, and even admitted to being tested for the virus. Now, do I believe we will get the results of that test? Yes–I believe he already was tested and was found negative and that is why he publicized the test itself–that or he his ego said to do it. Regardless, he had a good few moments, and he really needed them. Here is what we as a nation need: To calm the f–k down.
Seriously. We are emptying supermarket shelves–throwing ourselves into direct contact with the people we are supposed to be maintaining social distance from. It is problematic and likely to create a shelter in place situation where the disease has already spread to most of those sheltering and, as a result, they’ll be incubating while in shelter. That means we need to be sheltering longer. Some estimates (cdc) suggest 8 weeks or longer. It is worth reviewing the plan I’ve linked to above, because it does make sense.
I am mainly concerned about the system of the economy and of the nation. We are a machine that is driven by people out working and started (fueled) by purchasing. Unfortunately there are several vulnerable links in the system that are at risk here. Let’s just focus on the schools for a minute. If you have a job and young kids (below the age of staying home alone) then you are screwed. You cannot work. If you cannot work, you cannot get paid. If you have sick time and can take it, the workplace will suffer and the functions of that will decrease. Obviously the best situation is to work from home, but not everyone–heck not most have that luxury of having a job set up for such a thing. So, the system breaks down for the 8+weeks of school closure, and if the teachers are not getting paid and forced to find other work, the system breaks down a lot longer.
Just ten minutes of speculation on what could be the problems. Maybe I will have some thoughts on solutions tomorrow.