COVID-19 and the Economy

Should decisions about re-opening the U.S. economy be made purely based on epidemiology?

Of course not.  Sure, suppose you come up with an idea for a COVID-19 policy, e.g., re-opening restaurants with no indoor seating, and you run it by the epidemiological community.  You will get in return, with the maximum degree of precision possible, the most likely outcome in terms of the short-, medium-, and long-term health of the population, given the realities of things like testing facilities, the number of ICU bed-spaces, the probability of a vaccine in a certain time horizon, etc. 

But there are serious side effects to lockdowns and all forms of pandemic responses that go beyond COVID-related illnesses and deaths: depression, addiction, destitution, impoverishment, suicide, and child social development issues; these need to be calculated by economists, sociologists, child psychologists, and the like.

When my mom asked me what I think should happen, I told her: If I had the power, I’d put the health-related data together with the human impacts of lockdowns and try to come up with a solution that maximizes the country’s overall wellness and happiness in the long-term.

I would require that the governors of each state make policy decisions that are informed by this data set; I wouldn’t have jackasses like Florida’s Ron DeSantis, whose COVID cases are spiking through the roof, opening all bars and restaurants with no social-distancing guidelines whatsoever.

Does this mean I would ignore all the uninformed voices calling for an end to mask requirements and other elements of pandemic response?  Yes, it means that exactly.  I liken this to climate change, where we have deniers all over social media, whose academic achievements are high school diplomas and whose professional training is limited to selling cars and managing grocery stores.  Who could possibly care how poorly they understand climate science?