I’m hearing Whatshisnuts talk about reopening the economy, at least partially. And I have a couple legit questions/concerns that I really can’t get my mind around. Try to be nice in any and all responses. I live in Illinois.
1st concern - I have never seen a furniture store (for example) that has ever had more than ten people (other than sales people) in the store at one time. I personally don’t see any damage (as long as people are careful, masks, distance, cleanliness, etc) in potentially opening these types of stores right now. In addition, it just doesn’t seem fair that stores like Mejier and Target who sells groceries and clothes are allowed to be open, but clothing only stores like Old Navy and Kohl’s are closed. I just don’t see much of a difference between the 2. Yes, groceries are obviously essential, but it seems like the non-grocery portions of these stores should be closed off. Just to be fair
2nd concern - Assuming the economy is going to “reopened” before we have a working vaccine, then does it really matter if we reopen on April 20th, May 1st or on June 1st? Take the obvious personal protections and lets restart our lives. Obviously some things are not coming back anytime soon, large groups or airplane travel. But it seems like we should be able to pick and choose some retail and restaurants that can safely reopen very soon.
Educate me why we can’t reopen, at least part of the economy.
IMO, a cheap antibody test is going to be a big part of reopening the economy. When we can find out who has already had the disease and is immune to catching it again, those people will be allowed to roam freely.
I think society may open up so that only healthy people (people who aren’t immunocompromised or with serious comorbidities) under age ~55, and people who have had positive antibody symptoms but who test negative for the virus will be allowed out while all the people with serious health issues or who are too old will be kept on lockdown until we reopen society.
The people most at risk of the virus generally are not part of the active economy anymore. They’ve already worked, paid taxes and now are retired. They do constructive and social things, but generally aren’t working for wages anymore hopefully. So a society that keeps them on stricter lockdown until a vaccine or effective drug therapies are created hopefully shouldn’t cause a lot of economic issues.
As of 2016 54.2% of Canada’s population is between 20 & 60 so those people are getting infected at a slightly higher rate than they should which makes sense since they aren’t as capable of hiding in their homes.
Also don’t forget of the 120,000+ New Yorkers that have it, most are going to get better. Right now Gov Cuosmo has said, 75% of those who have been hospitalized are discharged.
This means in three weeks or so a lot of people are going to be able to go back to work and return to normal functioning.
Would you reconcile these statements? I actually don’t know many people under 65 or 70 who are retired, which reflects my social and work surround, but is still information about “the active economy.” My mother is in her 80s and still working. Under normal circumstances she also goes to spinning class at the gym twice a week. My wife and I, both over 55, work full time.
A situation where the elderly and unhealthy are kept on lockdown while the rest of society goes back to work could be something that is looked into in a few months.
That part has confused me. If I have a clothing or a furniture store, can I keep a tub of beef jerky by the cash register and stay open because I sell carry out food?
Whatever age group sees their mortality and morbidity rate skyrocket is the group that should be kept under stronger quarantine as people start going back to work. Whether that is age 50+, 55+, 65+ or 70+ or something else I"m not sure.
Many non food production work can be restarted with proper protocols in place.
You do not interact directly with customers. The environment and workers can be controlled well. Product can often be thoroughly treated at packaging.
But can you get your workers there and back safely? Mass transit seems to be out.
Grocery stores can put in place very effective controls. But are more difficult. Customers have to take on more responsibility.
Direct food service is very difficult. Protocols are more stringent and constantly immediate at each step. The customer has a difficult time ensuring non contamination.
Our local electronics store closed all the aisles off. Only employees went and fetched your items. Distancing and numbers was strictly enforced. Sanitizing was everywhere. It looked like a good system.
But as is becoming increasingly obvious, it’s not a matter of age groups. I posted this in another thread, but there seems to be a factor at work that is not age-related and is not tied to underlying health conditions.
And hell, yeah, young people with no underlying health conditions are getting seriously ill:
So why ARE are so many young,healthy people getting seriously ill with this disease? Researchers are starting to think there’s something else at play that isn’t age-related. One possibility is a gene variant of the ACE-2 gene that could make it easier or harder for the virus to get into the lungs. Another is that in some patients, COVID-19 could deplete surfactants in the lungs, making it difficult or impossible for lungs to function. Another possibility is that
It would be criminally foolish to cling to the early assumptions about age–assumptions that, based on incomplete or flawed data, are proving to be faulty.
But even if we lift restrictions on those who have developed immunity (once those tests become widely available, probably months from now), how will we know which of the people who are out working and shopping are immune? And who’d be in charge of enforcement?