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60 Questions Americans Need To Consider About How To Handle Coronavirus: Whatever you do, there will be tradeoffs between the possibility of getting infected and living your life
The Federalist ^ | 05/07/2020 | Joy Pullman

Posted on 05/07/2020 9:04:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

In mid-April, 69 percent of 2,394 registered U.S. voters polled said it is “necessary” to develop a coronavirus vaccine “before we reopen the economy.” Politicians are beginning to shift the goalposts in this direction as well, from “flattening the curve” to avoid overwhelming hospitals with COVID-19 patients to restricting social and economic activity “until we have a vaccine.”

For example, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that Californians will not be allowed to get “back to normal…until we get to immunity and a vaccine.” This while he unveiled “Depression era” job losses that have already cost California taxpayers billions in unemployment payouts alone.

Yet top medical experts estimate the fastest we could get a Wuhan flu vaccine would be between 18 months and two years away. Also, vaccines for coronaviruses are notoriously unreliable, such that even getting a vaccine could still mean widespread infections. Scientists note that “no vaccine has ever been approved for use in the US or UK against other forms of coronavirus” because coronaviruses are very hard to develop effective vaccines for, like the flu and common cold.

Then, if there even is an effective vaccine developed within two years — again, a huge if — it can’t be rolled out to the world’s 8 billion people quickly. In short, we’re going to have to live with this for a long time.

It’s still not two months into shutting down society to fix a problem that looks likely to be with us for at least ten times this span. Already 33 million Americans have filed for unemployment, or one in five of all paid workers. Our national debt has outstripped the size of our gross domestic product. Congress has spent nearly $4 trillion we don’t have bailing out a fraction of the economic losses.

Some 40 million U.S. kids will likely lose an entire year of learning due to the disruptions. Meat prices are hiking and shortages looming as farmers shoot cows and smother chickens they can’t sell restaurants. Nearly half of Americans say the crisis is messing with their minds, and a federal mental help hotline reported a 1,000 percent increase in contacts in April.

Clearly, shutdowns and bailouts are unsustainable for 18 months to two years. We need a new and better set of strategies, and we can’t put it off any further. Here are some questions the American public, pollsters, and our representatives need to start answering about how we’re going to handle this given that reality.

What Do You Know About COVID-19?

What does it mean to “flatten the curve”?

How does coronavirus tend to affect those younger than 50 compared to those older than 50?

What percentage of people in your county have contracted coronavirus? What percentage of your county’s population has died from coronavirus? What about for your state?

What is the major goal of the lockdowns: getting as few people infected as possible; slowing the spread so many people aren’t dangerously ill at once; slowing the spread until a vaccine; some combination of these; other?

From which of each of these do more Americans die and contract injuries every year so far: obesity, heart disease, coronavirus, car accidents, cancer, falls? Should government ban everything that causes a similar or bigger death toll than coronavirus?

Historically, quarantine has meant isolating the sick, not the healthy. Would you be willing to try this strategy instead of isolating healthy people?

Shutdown Until a Vaccine

Top U.S. medical experts do not believe a coronavirus vaccine will be available until sometime in 2021, perhaps as long as two years. Assuming they are correct, should we stay locked down until a vaccine is widely available?

Should we pay people to be out of work for up to two years or more to shelter at home until a vaccine?How will we pay for that?

If we pay lots of people not work, what will happen to their employers? What will happen to the things that they and their employers produced? Do we simply not need any of those things?

Should children be out of school for two years until a vaccine may become available? If not, how long?

Should museums, gyms, restaurants, and national parks remain closed for up to two years? If we do that, how many do you expect will survive?

Should dual-income and single parents be forced to work from home while homeschooling their kids for two years? Will children learn as much in those two years as they would in school? Should taxpayers pay for the education resources and tutoring these children receive online in that span?

Should government force people to get a coronavirus vaccine once it is available? What if the vaccine is only 20-30 percent effective, or even only 3-9 percent effective, like the flu vaccine is against some strains? What if the vaccine is developed using body parts harvested from aborted children? What if the vaccine’s side effects are serious for certain populations? What if developing the vaccine causes test subjects to die from the disease?

Personal Effects

Have you taken any “non-essential trips” or violated any quarantine orders during your local lockdown — such as a grocery run to get fewer than five items, a visit to a local park, or in-home socializing with friends? Should such activities be illegal? If yes, should they be punished with: a) arrest b) a fine c) community service d) jail time e) other (please specify)?

If we get a coronavirus vaccine at 30-40 percent effectiveness in two years, should we have shut down schools and workplaces that whole time?

What is your upper limit on how long shutdowns should last? Does that correlate with you having an office job?

Do you know anyone who had a serious case of coronavirus? Has that made you more or less likely to support shutdowns?

Should the elderly be required to die alone or go without seeing all friends and relatives in person for up to two years because of the risk of coronavirus to their health? Or should they be allowed to choose whether to take that risk?

Is death the worst thing that could happen to you?

Car crashes injure 2 million Americans every year. Do you plan to resume driving as normal once coronavirus shutdowns subside?

Absorbing Shutdown Effects

How many months do you think the United States could continue lockdowns and shutdowns before there are shortages of essential items — or do you think there will be no shortages regardless of lockdown length?

What is the limit on how much every American should be taxed or otherwise forced (such as in lost lifetime earnings) to pay for each coronavirus patient who needs hospital care? $5,000? $20,000? $100,000? An unlimited amount? How can they pay this atop taxes for the military, redistribution of their wealth to other Americans through existing entitlements, public schools and higher education, health care for half the nation, unemployment payouts, and interest on the federal debt, plus their personal bills?

Where will Americans get that money if they are banned from working? Where will they get that money even if they do work, given that the median annual U.S. household income before the coronavirus recession was approximately $60,000?

Medicare is a federal program that subsidizes health insurance and care for Americans older than age 65. It is the second-largest federal spending item, and accounts for one-fifth of all annual U.S. health care spending. The typical retiring couple gets at least $280,000 more from Medicaid than they put in. It is impossible to fix federal spending problems without cutting this program. Should we divert funds from Medicare to coronavirus bailouts and health expenses?

Social Security sends checks to retired Americans, who are the wealthiest generation in American history and the generation with the most assets. It is the largest area of annual federal spending. It is impossible to fix federal spending problems without cutting this program. Should we divert funds from Social Security to coronavirus bailouts and health expenses? If not, where should we get the money?

The current federal debt is $202,000 per taxpayer. The difference between how much we have promised to pay through entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicaid versus how much money taxes are projected to take in for these programs currently equals approximately $450,000 per citizen. How much bigger should these debt loads get to pay for people not to work during coronavirus? Is it fair to make people pay for government benefits for previous generations? To what extent?

If governments took every penny from every U.S. billionaire, it could run the federal government at pre-coronavirus spending levels for eight to nine months total, or pay for $2.4 trillion of the $3.6 trillion in emergency federal coronavirus spending so far. So additional coronavirus spending must come from America’s middle class. How much should lawmakers cut Social Security benefits per person to pay for coronavirus unemployment and bail out states? How much should they cut food stamps? Medicaid? Obamacare subsidies? Children’s health insurance? Education subsidies?

To deal with all these financial effects, plus dramatic decreases in tax revenue due to unemployment, what other federal spending should be cut: Foreign wars; earmarks for Planned Parenthood; subsidies to foreign governments and organizations such as the United Nations; subsidies to higher education; unconstitutional agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Department of Education; federal agencies that run extralegal courts such as the National Labor Relations Board and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; (pick other)?

State and Local Effects

If teachers aren’t working for two years and taxpayers are out of work and can’t pay taxes for teachers who aren’t teaching their kids, should teachers be fired? What about the public school employees who are not teachers, which is approximately half of the people public schools employ?

Should doctors who aren’t treating coronavirus patients lose their practices because they can’t see patients? What will happen to people with diseases and health needs other than coronavirus if they do?

Should your town lose money for schools, police, and roads due to people not working or going out and thus not paying income and sales taxes? If not, where should we get the money to pay for them? From future tax revenue from today’s kids who aren’t getting educated for the forseeable future?

States that shut down longer than others will lose more in tax revenue, plus higher expenditures on measures such as unemployment insurance, food stamps, and housing assistance. Should citizens of states that open their economies earlier be forced to pay for the higher government spending of states that open their economies later? What about if a later-opening state has fewer coronavirus cases per capita than some of those earlier-opening states?

Many states and cities — especially California, Illinois, and New York — have mismanaged their finances for decades and were nearing bankruptcy. Should taxpayers in better-managed areas be required to bail out locales with pre-existing financial mismanagement that the coronavirus economic collapse pushed into bankruptcy?


Joy Pullmann is executive editor of The Federalist, a happy wife, and the mother of five children. Her newest ebooks are"Classic Books for Young Children," which recommends more than 400 great family reads, and "32 Classic Games You Can Play Anywhere."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: backtowork; chinavirus; coronavirus; lockdown; qs; questions; reopening; tradeoffs
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1 posted on 05/07/2020 9:04:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Here’s a thought.

Make your peace with God now through Jesus Christ, and then leave the future up to Him, because when you know where you’re going, death is not the worst thing that could ever happen to you.

You won’t die one minute before He decides and when your time is up, you have no say in it anyways.

In the meantime, the peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.


2 posted on 05/07/2020 9:08:08 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: SeekAndFind
69 percent of 2,394 registered U.S. voters polled said it is “necessary” to develop a coronavirus vaccine “before we reopen the economy.”

Well, if 69% truly believe that nonsense, and are going to hide until they think their safety is insured, then it's all over.

3 posted on 05/07/2020 9:09:40 AM PDT by LittleBillyInfidel (This tagline has been formatted to fit the screen. Some content has been edited.)
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To: SeekAndFind

These are all.excellent questions. I question whether we can have intelligent discussion of these wihtin our political system, since the liberal view is that Trump has made everything worse, Trump is incompetnt etc.


4 posted on 05/07/2020 9:14:09 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: SeekAndFind

Bottom line for those hoping to end the lockdown and return to normal: 30-40% of the previously productive population is too frightened to end their isolation regardless of what the politicians or “experts” say. What’s more they are now a strong political constituency that will demand continual government subsidies during the “emergency”. It will be a very long time before things return to “normal”.


5 posted on 05/07/2020 9:20:17 AM PDT by allendale (.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I notice the article appears to write Medicaid when it means Medicare. Sloppy writing?


6 posted on 05/07/2020 9:25:33 AM PDT by lastchance (Credo.)
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To: LittleBillyInfidel

Do they realize a vaccine takes 12-18 months minimum to develop and test and that we’ve never been able to create a vaccine for a coronavirus as of yet so it could be many years away?

Maybe the msm forgot to mention that to them while they induced fear and panic.


7 posted on 05/07/2020 9:30:15 AM PDT by Pollard (shadowbanned)
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s past time to open up the economy. So far there have been 1.2M cases out of a population of about 350M. And of the people who have gotten the virus only 6% of them die from it. That’s a pretty low percentage.

Compare that against small business owners who are being locked out of their business, who have a 100% chance of being severely damaged by the lockdown.

It’s time to take the calculated risk and open up!


8 posted on 05/07/2020 9:31:25 AM PDT by libertylover (Socialism will always look good to those who think they can get something for nothing.)
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To: libertylover

RE: And of the people who have gotten the virus only 6% of them die from it.

That’s a pretty exaggeratedly HIGH number, 6% !


9 posted on 05/07/2020 9:32:38 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: SeekAndFind
My doctor is part of a medical group with the local big hospital. He has been furloughed along with all the other PCPs. This means that if I want to get normal care for my annual bout of bronchitis I have to go to urgent care and sit several hours with all the sick people rather then being able to call him, tell him what I have and have him call my usual prescription into the local pharmacy.

Oh and they can not give me a prescription for the cough syrup that actually works either. It is considered a class something or other narcotic and so is on the list of things they can not write a prescription for.

Just lovely.

10 posted on 05/07/2020 9:41:12 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Leave it to me to be holdin' the matches when the fire truck shows up & there's nobody else to blame)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

RE: My doctor is part of a medical group with the local big hospital.

Is he NOT allowed to have a private practice? Why can’t you go to his home office like many people used to do?


11 posted on 05/07/2020 9:42:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: LittleBillyInfidel

They only think that because they are led to believe they will be getting free money till the end of time. Cut off the BS stimulus funds and they will have a different opinion.


12 posted on 05/07/2020 9:45:01 AM PDT by Mouton (The media is the enemy of the people.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I am so absolutely SICK of all the hand-wringing over this stupid virus. Endless articles pontificating the decisions and life changes... blah blah.

My mother just passed away - not from COVID-19, but from botulism. No home-canned goods and no source we could find. it took two weeks before any doctors even thought about it because it has become so rare (around 1400 cases per year WORLDWIDE). The CDC was involved and even sent the anti-toxin (but it was too late). She didn’t get this (as far as we can figure) out in the world... and who could have ever planned or guessed?

If we live life afraid of the world - we will die alone and broke.


13 posted on 05/07/2020 9:46:43 AM PDT by TheBattman (Democrats-Progressives-Marxists-Socialists - redundant labels.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Is he NOT allowed to have a private practice?

He is not allowed to see patients privately.

Why can’t you go to his home office like many people used to do?

See above.

With very few exceptions all doctors in the area are part of one physician group or another. Because of Obama(don't)care the paperwork has become so onerous that the days of a doctor's office with a couple of doctors and nurses and a receptionist that does the office work are over.

14 posted on 05/07/2020 9:51:29 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Leave it to me to be holdin' the matches when the fire truck shows up & there's nobody else to blame)
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To: TheBattman

15 posted on 05/07/2020 9:52:27 AM PDT by Bratch (“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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To: SeekAndFind

That’s’ actually an extremely incorrect number. The actual death rate for those who are SYMPTOMATIC is now less than 1%. When you factor in the asymptomatic numbers (which we will never really knwo the full number) is less than 0.02%. And when figured as a death rate vs. total population- you are statistically FAR more likely to die in an auto accicent driving to work than catching and dying from COVID-19.

You are statistically more likely to contract a flu virus and die than COVID-19.

You are statistically more likely to die from violent crime...


16 posted on 05/07/2020 9:53:42 AM PDT by TheBattman (Democrats-Progressives-Marxists-Socialists - redundant labels.)
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To: SeekAndFind

60 questions is about 55 more than most attention spans will accept.


17 posted on 05/07/2020 9:55:04 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Really there is only 1 question beyond our salvation. Do you want to live your life in fear and reliance on government; or do you want to live free?


18 posted on 05/07/2020 9:55:32 AM PDT by vpintheak (Live free, or die!)
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To: SeekAndFind
That’s a pretty exaggeratedly HIGH number, 6% !

Well, maybe. I've been keeping a spreadsheet with numbers from the Johns Hopkins site. As of last night they report 1,228,603 US cases and 73,431 deaths, which works out to about 6%. However, I can't vouch for the accuracy of the Johns Hopkins numbers.

19 posted on 05/07/2020 9:58:26 AM PDT by libertylover (Socialism will always look good to those who think they can get something for nothing.)
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To: SeekAndFind

What do you think is the right number?


20 posted on 05/07/2020 9:59:26 AM PDT by libertylover (Socialism will always look good to those who think they can get something for nothing.)
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