Originally Posted by
DrIsotope
...The long-term economic impact is going to be significantly worse than the direct effects of the virus.
True, to some extent. But try telling that to dying victims and their families. To them it's personal, not statistics.
Humans are generally able to relate only to whatever directly impacts them. We're not so good at long term planning, deferred pleasures, or sacrificing for the greater good.
Right now, telling government agencies, private industries, etc., to shut down or run minimal staff for a few weeks will impact perhaps a few hundred-thousand people who might otherwise have suffered the effects of illness. Statistically, most people will survive and develop antibodies.
The loss of revenue and efficiency will impact tens or hundreds of millions of people later. Particularly folks who are disabled, on Social Security and Medicaid. There is enough capital in relatively few hands to offset a shortfall, but it's extremely unlikely those wealth holders will make that sacrifice for the greater good. At most there might be a short term, high interest loan to the government to offset the loss of taxes and payroll withholdings to fund Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, etc. And a likely condition of any such loan will be political clout to sway the entire economic and social system
We'll be experiencing the effects of this for years to come, long past the point when most people will have forgotten how and why we got to such a desperate future point.
But it wouldn't go over well to tell essential personnel to continue going to work, taking reasonable precautions. If a single person died who fit the right demographic type for heart-tugging tragedy news features, it could cause a seismic shift in politics, economics and culture.
Right now I'm not concerned about the loss of a few t-shirt rides and vanity events like the MS150. Seriously, how did multiple sclerosis, a rare and incurable ailment, become the most overhyped of all money-begging "charity" rides? I suppose something had to fill the void left over from Jerry Lewis and his smarmy muscular dystrophy telethon vanity event. After being haunted by Lewis' increasingly grumpy, disheveled and incoherent monologues as a kid, because adults insisted on tuning into that MD telethon, I could never watch his old movies again.
Participants would put their money to better use donating it directly to medical facilities that actually deal with patients who have MS, instead of buying new kit for the ride, etc. The whole "raise awareness" hype is just a smokescreen to cover for-profit "nonprofit" events that mostly benefit the organizers and marketing staffs.