Life, Death, and the Economy in COVID-19

Less than three weeks into the economic shutdown spurred by COVID-19, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said that he’s “all in” to risk his life for the economy. Like many Americans agitating to reopen the economy, Mr. Patrick has accepted that it would cost human lives, especially the elderly and immunocompromised. He essentially does not care. COVID-19 has unveiled the deepest hypocrisies of American society: how people who claim to be pro-life would willingly kill thousands for an uptick in the stock market. It feels absurd to have to make the argument that people are more important than profits, but it is an argument that needs to be made because our nation’s moral conscience is so vacant that we do not seem to understand what “2.2 million deaths” actually means. 

I live in a New Jersey town less than 20 miles away from New York City, where Tens of thousands have died and over 100,000 cases have been reported. The pandemic has taken the lives of teachers, transit workers, postal workers and police officers in the city as they continue working as essential employees. Hospitals are building makeshift ICUs as they struggle to manage wave after wave of hospitalizations, and bodies are now being buried in a mass grave on Hart Island. These numbers of COVID-19 are more than statistics: they represent countless unheard stories of fear and pain. It is the daughter who waited on the phone with her father for hours while he died in a hospital room alone. It is the couple, married for 51 years, who died 6 minutes apart. It is people standing six feet away from one another as they mourn their loved ones at a funeral where hugs are not allowed. 

This is what happens when we ignore scientific guidelines to continue social distancing practices. While New Yorkers continue suffering, state officials in Florida have reopened their beaches, and mobs in multiple states demand their states reopen as well. These requests ignore the scientific reality of COVID-19 and how it moves “easily and sustainably” between people, according to the CDC.

Social distancing will not be easy: a Harvard study from April found that social distancing may continue until 2022. It means that many will continue struggling with unemployment and economic instability. Many will miss the old way of life, the intimacy of human touch, or the festivities of large gatherings. But these sacrifices must continue to preserve the safety of our communities’ most vulnerable.

This is not to downplay the economic harm caused by COVID-19. In the past month, 22 million Americans have lost their jobs, rivaling numbers from the Great Depression. A Goldman Sachs survey found that of 1,500 small business owners, 50% wouldn’t survive another three months of quarantine, and as of April 16, the $350 billion Small Business Loan Program was officially depleted. Graduating seniors will be entering the worst job market since 2008, which will likely hinder their financial prospects for a decade. 

But economic woes are not the same as lives lost. To say that older adults ought to volunteer as tribute for the sake of economics is to make the ageist argument that the lives of those over 65 matter less than economic prosperity for younger generations. It reflects our dedication to unrestrained production at the expense of human pain and suffering. Holistically, calls to reopen the economy represent the dehumanization of unbridled capitalism which treats workers as machines in the relentless creation of wealth, even when it risks their lives. 

COVID-19 has also revealed how the wealthiest, those lobbying most heavily for an economic reopening, don’t value preserving human life when their net worths are at stake. This structural inequality persists in the workplace, where working class Americans must go to work or face the possibilities of eviction, starvation, and death. If anything, this pandemic should force us to question policies which have failed so many Americans: why is healthcare coverage tied to employment? Why do 78% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, preventing people from surviving if they don’t work? Why is it acceptable to advocate for thousands to die, against scientific recommendations, for the the economy?

This should be a call for us to remember the humanity of those we typically neglect. Undocumented migrants are now marked as essential workers because without their labor, we would not produce enough food. Nonetheless, undocumented workers were denied stimulus checks from the federal government, and are still terrorized by ICE. Prisoners have been particularly impacted by COVID-19, necessitating the release of thousands of prisoners across the country. However, in places like the Workhouse, hundreds of legally innocent prisoners are still detained, exacerbating the risk of COVID-19 transmission. These considerations should persist even after the pandemic ends to pursue more humane policies.

It is not easy to sacrifice for the collective good, but we need to now more than ever. Policies protecting the most vulnerable, like eviction freezes, ending student loan payments, and mandates to continue providing utilities are necessary to ensure nobody is left behind. Most importantly, continue social distancing, and urge your representatives to conform with health guidelines. Don’t capitulate to calls asking you to sacrifice your grandparents for a paycheck. The only place where you should be “all in” is your house.