htbrown Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

One of the things that has bothered me about the discussion about COVID policy is the 'Economy vs the Cure' framing.

The measures that most of us are living with do not stand in opposition to the economic damage being caused. It is a false premise. Yes the economy is being seriously affected, millions are out of work, and uncounted small businesses may never recover. The false premise is the implicit assumption that if these measures were not in place, the economy would be humming along as it was before the pandemic.

Now a study out of the University of Wyoming does an analysis of how much the economy would suffer with and without such measures. Their conclusion? Not only to these measures save lives, potentially millions of them, but the economic damage of doing nothing would be 5.2 trillion dollars greater.

Here's an article about it: https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/health/university-of-wyoming-analysis-argues-social-distancing-outweighs-alternative-by-5-2-trillion/article_ec26fe2e-ed46-5973-bddf-2e7c044e868e.html

Flying Three Loc: Berthoud, CO

Interesting analysis. Thanks for posting as many of us have been wondering the same thing.

usken65

Funny thing sweden did nothing everything went on like before Covid and they are just fine. No crashed economy no high death rate. No higher infected rate than anywhere else.

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

I agree with you completely.

Don