“family members start dropping dead”
There are some that don’t even care about that.
That said, this country is likely to go back to work before many think it’s prudent.
As Trump says obliquely, this country was built on entrepreneurship, business and damn hard work over a period of 4 centuries.
Turn that off for a year and the entire nation will die. Hell, the world itself may die.
At some point the people who build and work and create wealth will go back to work whether anyone else likes it or not.
I hope they wait as long as they possibly can.
But that is the reality.
It’s not the dropping dead that’s as catastropic.
It’s the million dollar medical bills.
Nobody will ever pay those off.
I’ve got a relative who had (probably viral) pancreatitis nearly 15 years ago.
Spent 3 weeks in the ICU, damn near died.
He was 32 at the time.
His choices were to declare bankruptcy or never retire. Guess which one he chose?
Can you even declare bankruptcy out of medical bills anymore?
“Turn that off for a year and the entire nation will die. Hell, the world itself may die.”
This is the conundrum and it is not avoidable, short of fast cure.
If you fight the disease at all costs, the world will go into a dark ages dominated by the most ruthless nations - the nations most willing to simply sacrifice their own people - left somewhat standing. China and Russia, in all likelihood. Those nations could easily overwhelm others that fighting the disease first and worrying about the viability of their nation second.
If you join those ruthless nations and turn your economy back on, you too, like them, may be creating a situation where you are sacrificing your citizens - and/or putting both the sick and Health Care Industry into impossible economic condition - in order to survive.
It is going to take a Solomon to find a way out that box.