The great lock down has helped to slow the spread of Covid-19. But it also came at a great cost to the global economy. Unlike a recession, many nonessential businesses have been closed with no clear timetable to reopen. The initial jobless claims in the US have swelled to more than 26 million since mid-March. While we see some glimmers of hope, we are not out of the woods yet. Businesses are anxious to reopen but we are also concerned with the health risks associated with it. The dilemma is if we reopen too quickly, we might risk triggering a second wave of Coronavirus which could be even worse.
For everyone to feel safe about reopening the economy, what we really need is one or more vaccines that are safe and broadly available. Scientists around the world are working frantically to find a cure to fight the Coronavirus. This is probably not going to happen for at least another nine months. The debate is raging over how long the U.S. economy should stay closed to contain Covid-19. On one side, we have the business community and workers who lost their jobs; on the other side, we have the healthcare workers with the highest risk of getting infected by Covid-19.
For many of the healthcare workers working in the front line fighting against Coronavirus to save lives, they will probably echo the same sentiment expressed by a counter protester against premature reopening below.
“They just think it’s a free-for-all, and I’m going in for $16.50 an hour, risking my life,” said Kelly Lepage, an emergency room tech who graduates nursing school in just a couple weeks. “They’re not bringing bodies to trailers,” Lepage said. “They’re not taking care of these people that can’t touch their families’ hands. They’re not there. They don’t see what we see. It’s very hard. I really wish they understood that we are trying our best to keep America safe.”
Comments
Post a Comment