Riding the coronavirus seesaw

So I’m envisioning a seesaw. Can you see it? On one end of the lever, to the left of the fulcrum, is public health. On the right end of the lever is the economy. Like any seesaw, when one end of the lever goes up, the other one goes down, and vice versa. Equilibrium is achieved when the seesaw is balanced and sits level across the center.

I can apply that principle to COVID-19.

Those of us who are concerned about public health are staying home, for the most part, avoiding crowds, social distancing, wearing masks in public, canceling doctor and dental appointments, watching our hair grow wildly, buying groceries online and wiping down the handles of shopping carts when we must go into a store. We’re concerned about the economy, of course, but more importantly, we don’t want to get sick and die.

We’re the ones on the left side of the seesaw.

On the other side are the president of the United States and his enablers, his son-in-law, his wealthy donors, some business leaders, a bunch of millionaires, Fox News and OANN, people who are heavily invested in the stock market and members of Congress who put their own greedy quest for political power ahead of what’s good for the country.

They’re the group sitting on the right side of the seesaw.

Now, putting all of this into a rational context, I see two possible scenarios:

(1) The nation continues to exercise caution with regard to the coronavirus and waits patiently for the world medical community to develop an effective treatment for people who contract COVID-19 and, eventually, a vaccine that will prevent us from catching the disease. We do this no matter how long it takes and without regard for the condition of our investments and retirement accounts.

(2) We follow the president’s lead and jump back into action “sooner rather than later” by reopening schools, beaches and businesses, staging sporting events, allowing Sunday church services and pretending that we have flattened the curve and defeated “the invisible enemy.” When this happens—at least at first—the economy starts to recover, which helps Trump in his never-ending campaign to be re-elected. The risk here, of course, is that before we can bring the economy all the way back, a second wave of COVID-19 hits because we’ve abandoned all prudent precautions and people start dying once again.

While walking my dog yesterday, I had an epiphany. I applied the two scenarios mentioned above to myself, my family and my friends, and this is what I saw:

Scenario 1: By continuing to take appropriate steps to avoid the coronavirus, which is a good idea for someone in five risk categories, I have a chance to get through this nightmare and come out on the other side still alive and well. My retirement account has taken a hit, but it’s now possible that I will live long enough to see the economy rebound. I don’t need my retirement funds right now anyway, so it doesn’t matter that much if I lose some value. The market will come back like it always has because that’s what the market does. In the meantime, my family and I are still alive and that’s what’s most important.

Scenario 2: I take Trump’s advice and go back to my old life, shopping in supermarkets and drug stores, attending sporting events with a few hundred of my closest friends and maybe even taking a vacation to a popular (read “crowded”) resort. A few weeks after Trump reopens everything, I catch the second round of the virus, infect my family and friends and we all die. The good news is, my retirement account is climbing off the charts. The bad news? I don’t need it any longer because I’m dead.

It seems so simple to me: Alive and financially damaged on the one hand, somewhat wealthier but dead on the other. Such is a ride on the coronavirus seesaw. 

(In the interest of full disclosure, I realize that millions of people are in a far worse economic condition than I am. They are not retired and collecting a pension and Social Security checks. They have lost their jobs indefinitely, have no insurance, can’t pay their bills, don’t even have a retirement account and don’t know how they’re going to survive from one week to the next. I feel terrible for their condition and I wish the government (or some of our billionaires) would do more to help them through this pandemic—which is a subject for another time. These are not the people I’m talking about.)

I am talking about the people who are chomping at the bit to “open up the country” so they can start making buckets full of money again by sending their low-wage employees back into the virus field to sell hamburgers, shoes, hardware, widgets and gidgits and goods and services that ultimately benefit those who own the businesses and not the people who work in them.

I’m hoping this doesn’t happen. I’m really afraid that Round Two of COVID-19 or COVID-20 or whatever we call it is just sitting out there waiting for crowds to reconvene so it can start infecting us all over again. We’re in this mess because the president and his administration were slow to react to warnings about the virus the first time around.

Now is not the time to get in a hurry.