For the past few weeks, going on two whole months, the citizens of America have been enduring a pandemic that has been sweeping the whole world. This pandemic of the Coronavirus, or CoVID-19, has been sweeping through a few states in particular; New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and California. These top 5 states have been enduring the worst of the hotspots, and have been experiencing things like mass and long lasting economic shutdowns, long lasting periods of isolation, loss of loved ones, and constant circulation of misinformation. It has been a warzone for residents both in the physical world and in our media, as it lacks solidarity, research, and encouragement for unity in such a troubling and difficult time in our lives.
The long lasting shut-downs are costing the average American family. The average small business owner in the United States says that within six months of an impeded economy, which is what many people including government officials expect to be the minimum amount of time before things return to normal. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s website, “Nearly half of small businesses (46%) believe it will take the U.S. economy six months to a year to return to normal.”
If many of the businesses in the country go under due to this shutdown, our economy will be seeing major casualties. This wave of businesses going under due to the COVID-19 outbreak could be comparable to that of losing a limb in battle. As more and more businesses push to make ends meet, the people running these businesses need to find ways to make ends meet with their personal bills. The people not acquiring a paycheck are then applying for unemployment. In New Jersey alone, three weeks of isolation led to over 580 thousand people applying for unemployment, according to the state's website. As the weeks went on, the number of people applying for government aid went up and are at their highest in the state’s history. Citizens currently are scared for their financial stability, and are predicting a surge in homelessness in their states.
There are, however, states that are reopening their economies already. States like Florida and Georgia have already reopened their businesses. Florida reopened their beaches after closing them for only two weeks. DeSantis (the Governor of Florida) says the numbers in the state are low enough that it is safe to open the economy back up “slow and steady”. Georgia has claimed the same thing, saying their risk is lower than states that are considered hotspots.
New Jersey and New York have no end date for their stay-at-home orders that have been put into place since March, but Murphy and Cuomo have mentioned the date May 15th as a significant date to re-evaluate the crisis at hand. As of April 27, Murphy said that with regulations involving social distancing, the economy can begin to reopen. According to NJTV News and their Live Updates they put out every twenty-four hours, there is a steady decrease in new infections and hospitalizations. In the past two weeks, there have been fluctuating numbers of new cases in New Jersey, averaging out to around 3,000 new cases a day. In the past two days, (April 26th and 27th) the numbers moved down for two consecutive days, into a 2,400 average. This decrease in cases and increase in recovery has led to Murphy’s confidence that the coming weeks will be enough downtime to plan how to heal the economy enough to stay afloat.
However, many people are growing very impatient while waiting in isolation at home. People are developing cabin fever, depression, and domestic violence has increased worldwide. In France and Singapore, domestic violence rates have gone up about thirty percent; in the U.S. there was about a thirty-five percent increase. Other countries like Spain have rising calls to hotlines and authorities by about eighteen percent. As more people are stuck in homes with abusive partners and parents, and more health and economic stressors are piled on, the amount of abuse rises.
What must also be factored in is America is currently going through what is being called a loneliness epidemic. It is said that loneliness in extreme cases can cause the same health problems as smoking about 15 cigarettes a day. This loneliness, sadness, and constant sense of loss is a threat similar to COVID-19, as suicide rates have increased drastically since the start of the stay-at-home orders that were out into effect countrywide. In fact, so many people are sick of this shutdown, that some people in Michigan and California are protesting and saying this shutdown and isolation is unconstitutional.
The world was blindsided by this crisis, and it is clear that the preparation for this inevitable pandemic was not a priority to the leaders of the world. The real value that continues to shine through statements by government officials worldwide is economics rather than making the health and safety of citizens the first priority. The way this pandemic has unraveled shows that such a lack of guidance and unified media yields horrifying results. If the world were to really recover from this crisis, it would be wise to unify and try to find solutions as a whole rather than as sectors. Division is weakness, unity is strength.
Works Cited
www.uschamber.com/report/special-report-coronavirus-and-small-business
www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/04/another-214000-nj-workers-seek-unemployment-as-claims-soar-to-576000-over-3-weeks.html
www.uschamber.com/report/special-report-coronavirus-and-small-business
www.njtvonline.org/news/uncategorized/tracking-the-coronavirus-in-new-jersey/
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