How are you holding up, my fellow Americans? I hope you are healthy and safe and haven’t lost faith yet. If you are sick, I hope you’ll feel better soon.
When will all of this be over? No one knows. It could be weeks or months. Epidemics are unpredictable and make everything uncertain. So far, we have no evidence that Covid-19 will be stifled by warm weather. Will Covid-19 become a seasonal virus? That is also unknown.
Just like the rest of the world, I wonder what our lives will be when this is over. Even if restrictions are lifted, surely we won’t go back to “normal” anytime soon. What will our new “normal” be? Will there be a “pre-Covid” and a “post-Covid”?
Is a handshake and hug going to be a thing of the past? Are masks going to be our new accessory? Will restaurants remove most of their tables in order to thin out the crowd? Has the behavior of every country been permanently changed?
These thoughts actually occupy a lot of my waking hours. I’m sure some of you feel the same way.
I consider myself a very positive person. I always hope for the best, but also prepare for the worst.
Without sounding “dark”, here are some worst-case scenarios my daughters and I have talked about.
This life is now normal life. Our freedom will never be what it once was.
This was a trial run of an engineered virus. Whoever released it now has the vehicle and data to spread an even more deadly virus in the future.
We stay in so long that more and more supply chains dry up. Products and services become scarce, causing massive inflation. When we lift the quarantine, the engine doesn’t start back up.
Nothing is learned from this experience, manufacture of medical supplies and medicine is not returned to the U.S.
The virus mutates. Right now we are experiencing the “mild wave”.
People who contracted the virus, including asymptomatic people, suffer chronic lung diseases and their lung capacity diminishes.
Quarantines will be lifted but then “new outbreaks” will be reported and the shutdown will continue until most small businesses crash and the working class begs for more government bailouts.
China becomes the world’s economic power.
I’d like to hear your take on this situation. What do you think the outcome will be?
Anthony Sotelo
April 4, 2020I don’t think this is as apocalyptic as some people think. The speed and strength of the recovery in the U.S. will depend on the ability of our citizens to bounce back and make sacrifices, and also on our corporate community’s ability to temper their greed.
The state of the American healthcare system and it’s low capacity to handle this pandemic is not bad luck. Since the mid-1970s when HMO’s were introduced, we have steadily rationed the access to medical care. The number of physicians and hospital beds have been greatly reduced over the last 40 years, in comparison to our population growth. The production of medical equipment and medicines has been greatly outsourced to foreign countries. This is not the government’s fault. This is how our free market economic system has evolved.
In summary, the new normal that develops after the COVID-19 pandemic is contained will depend on individual citizens’ behavior, and the behavior of our corporate community. We all must focus on saving lives and saving our country, and these outcomes will not be achieved without sacrificing for the good of our nation!