Friday, March 20, 2020
Before Virus Outbreak, a Cascade of Warnings Went Unheeded
As more and more news and statistics comes out about all the widespread effects of Covid-19, there is also more news coming out about where it comes from and what was done to prepare for it. This article points out that reports are showing that the US should have been much more prepared than what they were/currently are for a pandemic like this. They had done previous studies that described this exact scenario that is playing out and the administration did not do much, if anything, to stop it. With the quarantines already in effect, the economy has come to a grinding halt with consumption already plummeting, but with these kind of reports coming out, there will be another chunk taken out of peoples confidence in the economy and will cause consumption to take longer to recover. This is not a good look for the future and will hopefully be counteracted by some kind of policy to do that. What kind of policy could be put out in order for this trend to be controlled? Also, what other kinds of things should companies be doing that could assist the governments relief?
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This is interesting, as it was recently reported that Bill Gates "predicted" coronavirus in 2015. Not actually predicted, but made it clear that a failure to stop an epidemic of any means would be on the grounds of lack of preparedness by the United States as an internal failing. To this point, the reports coming from the Federal Government would agree that is an accurate depiction of the response and the preparation of the country's pandemic preparedness.
Additionally, Congress failed to pass a multi-trillion dollar relief bill today. It was a partisan vote in the Senate, and now a member of the Senate has tested positive for the virus. The time to act was before this month, before it was a pandemic. The window is unfortunately closing.
Companies should work from home until further notice (if possible), they cannot do much more than that. It is not feasible to ask service industries to shut down without quality financial aid to help workers and keep the business afloat, but that is where we stand today.
I think that we have seen various states have make good choices such as Ohio and Michigan's recent shelter in place advisories, but more should be implemented across the country from the top down. Working from home is a good idea, however there are companies that will need to continue to operate carefully, such as those who are producing medical supplies we desperately need. Although the US should have acted a long time ago by closing borders earlier, I think that with the current situation we have been put in there are more and more positive news everyday as the US thinks of new ways to control and fight the virus.
I think stimulus packages of some kind are helpful to grow an economy in some way. It is important to be strategic though with where the extra money goes. There should be an emphasis on helping the business who don't have enough money to run after months with no costumers or employees or investors. Demand is very low right now which can put a lot of small businesses at risk of going bankrupt. On the virus side of this article, I think people need to take quarantining more seriously. I live in California, where people are still having BBQs, going to beach parties, not closing restaurants, so if this keeps happening, the virus is not going to slow down whatsoever.
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