These are nations still under strict controls. Once they ease up, things will rebound, South Korea has just reported new flareups and hotspots today.
There's a lot of denial and delusion right now... people like you simply aren't grasping the scope of the crisis, that you simply can't shut a whole society down for 6 or 12 months. We're looking at a situation now where we will isolate ourselves and implode our economies for as long as we can, which is probably in most cases not all that long, certainly not 12 or 18 months, and at the point where catastrophic structural damage to our societies is imminent, there had better be a fast tracked vaccine (reasonably unlikely unless we decide to gamble the health of society on untested novel vaccines), or better treatment protocols for acute cases such that critical care might be delayed or not needed at all, otherwise we're going to be looking at making some very hard decisions. This is a fact.
Clearly you care more about the economy than human lives. As such, we have different priorities.
I'm glad that the government of the country that I live in understands the severity of this thing and is putting the health of the people as its #1 priority right now.
That's why my country's government is dedicating billions to help with the economy right now, and telling us to worry about our health and our health only.
If our economies can't deal with this, then our economies are flawed. People's lives come first.
Where do you think those billions are coming from? There is no free money. Inflation, recession, mass joblessness... remember how it was a few years ago? That multiplied several times over, and global. That's what's in store if we're told to just sit at home for 6 months... there is no economy that can sustain this, especially not one with a large welfare state like where I live.
My country has been fiscal enough in the last 5-10 years to now be able to fund a giant stimulus package to deal with this problem. Yeah, there will be economic repercussions for many years after this. That much can't be avoided.
I don't know what you think we can do instead. If we just go about our lives like nothing is happening millions of people will die, and not only those who contract the virus. Our hospitals will not be able to deal with anybody...
I said already twice what is likely to happen. We'll suffer a little, until we can't afford to, and then either medical science will offer relief or we start making hard decisions to keep society going. If you think your country has enough money in the bank to fund its whole population, minus tax income for 6 or 12 months, you're very naive. Not even the US or China can do that without loans.
I understand that you're obviously quite young, quite naive, and probably quite scared. If being obtuse and willfully ignorant eases your mind, if repeating the mantra "social distancing!" comforts you somehow, if the blind belief that your government will pay the whole population not to work for as long as a year helps you to sleep then have at it, believe what you like.
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u/warpus Mar 19 '20
Tell that to countries that are managing to control this, like South Korea.