Who Can Afford That?

I can admit that two weeks ago, I didn’t think the coronavirus would be something that we in the United States would have to worry about. The world had done a very good job at containing Ebola, and with the outbreak in China, a nation not known for caring about the rights of its citizens, it would be quarantined just like they had done with SARS.

So, I was wrong.

At least in the sense that we here in the US need to prepared for the possibility of an outbreak of the disease within our boarders. I don’t see that as a fearful reacting, but more a matter of being logical.

The one thing that has jumped out at me from the NYC and NY state press conferences (I won’t even get into the ridiculousness of Trump’s press conference) is that both the mayor and governor were telling people that if an outbreak happens, “just stay home, and don’t go to school.”

Clearly, we should all do that.

And…

Clearly, half of us out that can’t afford to do that.

Half of the people out there is this city and state live paycheck to paycheck, and if they miss a day of work they fall behind. Are landlords going to let people pay their rent late? Are banks going to let mortgage and credit card payments be late? How about internet and cable companies? (I know ConEd doesn’t care, coz they don’t shut off power to anyone.) Are all those bills going to wait until the threat is over?

There is a domino effect here when large groups of people don’t go to work and don’t get paid. I see the how the world economy is grinding to a halt just by the way the stock markets are beginning to fall off a cliff.

Again, who is thinking about the people that are just hanging on to the edges of this economy?