I have been following COVID in as much detail as I can squeeze into my every ounce of free time and it still pokes me in the eye with surprises every few weeks. I just finished my big monthly “here’s what’s happening with COVID” post, but then things moved quickly, so I feel I need to provide an update.
I feel like this is where strong government action makes sense, if you just tell people that we're in the middle of a surge and to be careful, people will naturally do less risky activities (going to bars, movies, restaurants, etc), but these businesses will struggle under these unknowns. If you force them to close and at the same time pass targeted stimulus to keep them in business, that seems to me to be less disruptive and a better path to a faster recovery after this.
I feel like this is where strong government action makes sense, if you just tell people that we're in the middle of a surge and to be careful, people will naturally do less risky activities (going to bars, movies, restaurants, etc), but these businesses will struggle under these unknowns. If you force them to close and at the same time pass targeted stimulus to keep them in business, that seems to me to be less disruptive and a better path to a faster recovery after this.