Why do people like you create strawman arguments by putting words in other people’s mouths? You can’t envision a response that includes many of the current measures without the draconian one size fits all prescription? Like mandating closing retirement homes and caregiving facilities to visitors, mandating work from home solutions where possible, massive media outreach to educate the public on health risks for given demographics, closing the borders and ports to cruise ships, etc. Sure the economy would have taken a hit but it didn’t have to be fatal. Instead they’ve flat pulled the plug and are digging a multi-trillion dollar hole.
Many of the rapid shifts in the market are more linked to an overheated, extended bull run built on debt and stock buy backs than just the short term steps taken to avoid a potentially high epidemic case load.
There are endless reports of businesses that will fail in days, but any business running that close to the edge is either under capitalized or over leveraged or has insufficient margins - or all three.
Trying to avoid a very high caseload seems like a smart idea, even if it causes a temporary disruption.