The suffering caused by the economic threat of coronavirus to the health care system could be exponentially greater than its health risks.
I think what will happen is actually very easy to understand. If you stop your work, it will mean a weakening or bankruptcy of your company. If we don't work, our companies have no income and cannot pay the salaries, interest and - very importantly - taxes. I wonder, if our health system doesn't get enough money, how can it save our lives?
No modern economy has experienced anything like this. We simply do not know how the economic machine will react to the damage that is beginning, nor how difficult or easy it will be to turn it on again. Starting with a "supply shock" in China, the economy has been transformed into a standstill unprecedented in scale and speed.
An economic crisis will also have a huge impact on health systems. The system will no longer be able to help everyone as before. Instead of mobilising all forces, investing rapidly in health systems, expanding hospitals, building ventilators, the money will now be invested in saving the economy that has lost money because of the health crisis. That money is gone, we must earn it back.
Human suffering can occur in the form of illness and death from corona. It can also take the form of illness caused by the inability to pay medical and health care bills or loss of home.
I do not think we are acting rationally when we shut down an economy that has been responsible for unparalleled development and growth in health over the last century. Instead, everyone cries out for leadership and action instead of thinking long-term. Why can't we protect the elderly and let the younger ones work? Why can't we concentrate on producing the necessary equipment (like the German company Trigema, which stopped producing clothes and started making masks). All studies show that the risk for people under 50 years of age is lower than that of influenza, but the elderly must be protected. Instead of investing there, trillions of dollars are being destroyed without any equivalent.
What can we do? It is not the time to sit back and relax, come to our senses, etc. It is the time to act quickly. It is the time to work. It is time to save our economy so that governments can get their taxes and invest in health systems.
Let us use this time to develop ideas, to make new business. Let's use all the Internet technology to work closely together. Work from home, if we can, work overtime to create value for your business. Let´s care for the elderly. Prepare for the start after "Corine-Virus". It's no vacation. Use your time, don't waste it.
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