WBJ Editor Brad Kane
May 11, 2020
Letter from the Editor
We should all keep taking this seriously
As the coronavirus pandemic drags on, two things are becoming abundantly clear: 1) It is still growing; and 2) People are becoming more impatient with a closed down economy, or at least, the voices of those pushing for an economic reopening have gotten louder.
About a month ago, when we all settled into the social distancing regulations and the economic shutdown, the overwhelming consensus was this was a necessary step to fighting a deadly outbreak. The longer-term worry, though, was people and businesses might get impatient and push for the economy to reopen too early, when the data was still calling for social distancing. That appears to be what is happening, as about 20,000 new coronavirus cases are discovered each day in the U.S. The federal government and some individual states are making decisions based on politics, deciding to reopen and then adjusting the expected death toll upward. Gov. Charlie Baker, to his credit, seems to be relying more on the scientific data in guiding his decisions on how Massachusetts can move forward safely.
The shutdown still sucks, though. Nearly 800,000 Massachusetts residents and more than 33 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the pandemic began, and the economic pain will only worsen – particularly for the most vulnerable – the longer this all drags on.
But when I worry too much about the economic fallout, I think back to a conversation I had for the WBJ Podcast with Worcester businesswoman Amy Lynn Chase, whose five businesses are operating at less than 20% of their typical revenue. Amy cried when she was asked about laying off members of her staff, which was the first time she ever had to do that. Still, when asked about how badly she wanted the economy to reopen, Amy thought of the community. Her businesses have woven themselves into the fabric of Worcester, and she didn’t want to see the health of her loved ones or members of the community suffer all for the sake of her businesses returning to their pre-pandemic levels. She would find a way to operate and survive, while abiding by whatever measures are forced upon her businesses, in order to keep the coronavirus impact to a minimum.
When the pandemic started, we all said we were in this together. Let’s not lose heart now. It’s going to be tough, but it needs to be.
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