You do NOT shut down an economy
When did I suggest shutting down the economy? I NEVER suggested that, or anything like it.
What I DID suggest is that we do more of what’s been recommended all along. Wear DECENT masks (not a single layer of cloth - those are indeed all but worthless). Even surgical masks are decent. Inside AND out. (It’s still “catchy” outside, and it astounds me how few masks I see outside). Do what we can to socially distance and quit doing brain damaged things like going to indoor parties with a bunch of other people. Simple, basic stuff like that. I’m really too emotionally exhausted and frustrated about the election to really bat this back and forth any longer..but the mess we’re in at this point is largely of our own making, because many of us were unwilling to even make simple, really not difficult changes to try to do what we could do to get this under control.
PS: Taiwan (which I’ve mentioned often) NEVER SHUT DOWN. They’ve had seven (!) deaths to date. Few cases. Guess what they do? Yeah..they don’t bitch and moan about masks, and wear them indoors and out. They also do actual contact tracing (vs the very anemic contact tracing we pretend to do). Repeat: they NEVER. SHUT. DOWN. Nor do we need to.