Sometimes I sense that there are a lot of people who really haven't a clue as to what has happened. Basically, people who understand things about hospitals, covid-19, etc. figured out that if covid-19 couldn't be slowed down that the hospitals would be overwhelmed and those who had been infected, and were ill, would not be able to get medical attention because our healthcare system would be overwhelmed and there would not be enough facilities to handled the infected.
The result of that understanding incurred some changes in how things were. Large, new, facilities were built, for instance, in New York (they got used but are now, for the most part, gone). The populace was told to go home and stay there to lower the number of infected as well. The reasoning was that if you did that you wouldn't get infected thereby lowering the possibility of an overwhelmed healthcare system unable to care for the ill. This worked, the day was saved, everybody who needed hospital care got that care and still do.
That was it, that was why. There were, however, changes. These were that everybody (for the most part) went home so as not to get infected. This means most folks are not shopping, not eating out, children are not going to school, universities have shut down, and people are not working. All that being said we still have Covid-19 waiting to infect anybody who is not careful. There are new cases every day.
There are, however, communities, such as where I live, where nobody has been infected unless they came from outside, or went someplace else, got infected, then returned here to infect friends or relatives (we have had about 5 like that - total). Since there are few infected (22 out of a population of something like 70,000) there is a whole group of the population that tend to discount Covid-19 and want to have everybody back working and spending their money. The problem with that one is that nobody has been working and so there are few that have any money to spend in the first place. Over time its all morphed into a political situation wherein the Republicans are right when they question whether there is a Covid-19 and the other side that continues to hide at home.
In the end, I think, we have a problem with what really is, and what really isn't and instead of that being a question of reality it has become a question of politics. My own thought is remaining careful is probably the smart thing to do. Politics, when it comes to this, is basically insane and makes no sense. All that being said I am not convinced there is anything anybody can do about any of this. Its as if we have all decided to have mental problems to one degree or another. I know people, for instance, who refuse to wear face masks. They never even started to wear them and they are not getting infected because we have done an absolutely great job of dealing with those that do get infected and they are out of sight and out of mind. One side says "why worry" and the other says "look out!" and both sides laugh at the other.
The interesting part, for me, is that there is now a lot of talk as to how Covid-19 is attacking, more and more, those outside of major population centers. Since, here, we are all pretty much relaxed, on both sides, I suspect we are wide open to getting infected. I remain convinced that Covid-19 will be there until either 75% of us get it and survive or that a vaccine that works. In between I would also like to know that there are treatments for the infected that work. One of my personal problems is that I am 85 and not likely to currently survive unless there is a treatment or vaccine that actually works.
Anyway, piles of people no longer have jobs. There have been any number of small businesses that have closed their doors and have no plans to start up again. This adds to the unemployed. Big Corporations are also getting ready to start firing employees because they have no business. This started with people hiding out from Covid-19, this caused, and is causing, the aforementioned employment problems. We are being told that even after Covid-19 goes away we will have unemployment between 20% and 40% for several years whilst those that employ restore themselves.
Now add in the simple fact that we went from a 20,000,000,000+ (20 trillion+) debt to, so far a 24 trillion dollar debt. I suspect that will go up to quite a bit more than that. All this has happened whilst our GDP has continued to fall which also means that our debt is going to end up A LOT more than our GDP and this will re-define our national debt and the sale of our bonds based on a national debt that is hugely more than our Gross National Product which is the sum total of all goods and services in the United States. This is NOT a good thing! A simple way to put this one is that Joe is friend of yours and wants to borrow money from you. Joe has no job, and existing debt of more than he is worth and has no money coming in. You gonna loan Joe any more money? Now, If you are, what if Joe was not a friend but a stranger asking you for money. You gonna loan more money to a stranger? In this case the stranger is the United States of America.
https://www.epi.org/blog/the-corona...ion-unless-federal-policymakers-act-now/https://www.epi.org/blog/a-prolonge...eral-aid-to-state-and-local-governments/
