@Bryan Beal From what we know based on watching the cycle of the virus around the world, relaxing the shutdown restrictions early would be like making a successful parachute jump, and then choosing not to release the chute at the last minute. Doing so would cause a second spike, and be far worse for public health and for businesses alike because we would most likely end up having to shut down all over again, or deal with a much greater loss of human life. Dead people don't support small local businesses, or pay taxes, or rent apartments.
If you really wanted the shutdown to be over with quickly, you would stay home until we can flatten the curve in order to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed and get this virus somewhat under control. Without a vaccine or any herd immunity, social distancing has proven to be the only weapon we have to fight this virus. In the meantime, in order to support our great country as well as your favorite local small businesses that you understandably care greatly for, here are some things you can be doing to help, if you aren't already:
Buy gift cards from local businesses to use later, or to give them to friends/people in need.
Order food delivery from your favorite restaurants.
Buy a year membership at your favorite gym/rec center/martial arts center/yoga studio.
Do your Christmas shopping early and buy your gifts from small local businesses over the phone or on their website.
Pay for your scheduled services that have been cancelled: your barber, your house cleaner, your dentist, etc.
Give Blood
Help people who shouldn't leave home; go grocery shopping for the elderly or those who are immunocompromised (using gloves and a mask, washing hands, disinfecting food packaging before delivering just to make sure you don't infect them)
Donate to food banks
Start a donation match for your favorite charity. My company is doing this and we have raised ten's of thousands for our local Business Chamber's Small Business Relief Fund, as well as for a local children's hospital that is providing food to local kids who normally depend on their school lunch programs to eat.
Don't be selfish: this means stay at home as much as possible unless you're considered an essential worker, so you don't unintentionally come into contact with someone carrying the disease, contract it and spread it. Not being selfish also means not hoarding things like toilet paper, Tylenol, cold medicines, soaps, cleaning supplies, N95 masks and hand sanitizer.
Find a source for N95 masks and have them delivered to nurses and doctors on the front lines (who are being required to supply their own or go without them in many hospitals).
Be nice. The ad-hominem attacks you made to others in this thread aren't any less petty than the ones they made to you. Everyone has enough stress at the moment, we don't need to be rude to each other.
Like you, I too am grieving the temporary loss of my personal freedoms, the crashing economy, and the loss of life. But I have long passed the first stage of grief, which is denial. For me this happened when my friends started getting sick, and I began actually paying attention to the virus; how it spreads, how it is much different from a seasonal flu, how flattening the curve is the only way to fight it until we have specific medicine for it, a vaccine, and begin building up herd immunity which takes time.
Some of my friends were sick for 5 days and recovered, but not all. My one friend who is in his 30's and is a professional ski guide/incredible athlete with no underlying health issues is still struggling with it after 30+ days. His symptoms (that were much, much worse than the flu) left and then came back much worse. He was on a ventilator for 2 weeks and very nearly died. Being on a ventilator is not a walk in the park, by the way, they basically put you in a coma and operate your lungs mechanically. Today I read about an actor in LA who was a healthy young man prior to getting Covid 19 and they had to amputate his leg due to blood clots he got as a complication of the disease. It's not something I'd wish on anyone, for any amount of money. We know more about this thing collectively than we did a month ago, but we still don't know enough about it to take any unnecessary risks that could literally jeopardize the lives of many thousands if not millions of people.
Perhaps the nurses you know are lucky enough to not be in hotspot areas. However without social distancing measures in place, every area would become a hot spot area eventually. I also have friends that are nurses, and we are considered a hot spot area, and they have completely different stories from what you described hearing from the nurses you know. They describe their jobs as being in a war zone right now, and I believe them 100%. They have to work mandatory overtime, are not allowed to leave in between shifts, have to sleep on cots in a converted warehouse next to the hospital, can't see their families, and are reusing masks and being exposed to the virus and getting sick and dying at much higher rates than people like you and I. I hope enough people practice social distancing to prevent the nurses you know from experiencing what the nurses I know are experiencing. The sooner we flatten the curve, the less risk to them and the sooner they can go home to their families. We've heard from medical professionals in this thread who have given their expert opinions and first hand experience, and they recommend staying home a while longer, and I believe them too.
From what we know, opening up the economy early as you're suggesting would literally cause more people to die than need to. The result would probably be longer closures, a greater negative impact on the economy, and more loss of life, which is probably why you've gotten such strong reactions from folks on here.
Many of us shared your line of thinking at some point in time. For me it was about a month ago when the shutdown first started here and before I knew literally anything at all about it. I've learned a lot in that month and now that I have a better understanding of the situation, I realize how truly catastrophic allowing it to spread and run its natural course could be. It could end up like the Spanish Flu with many millions dying. Doing that in order to achieve herd immunity quicker in an attempt to soften the blow on the economy would not only be barbaric, but it also probably wouldn't work. The health crisis would probably worsen and the economy would be hit harder.
I have 3 young kids ages 11 months, 2, and 4.5. We've been in self-isolation for over a month. I'm self employed, have lost a lot of money from this, our kids schools and daycare are cancelled, our nanny got sick and stopped helping about a month ago, I have an auto-immune disease that makes me more vulnerable to viral infections, I'm still trying to work (from home with zoom meetings and doing a few virtual showings but not many) in order to keep $4M worth of pending real estate deals from falling apart and trying to fill my pipeline as a new agent, while still taking care of my family and my properties, all while trying really hard not to get sick because people need me and I don't want to get them sick too, and it really, really sucks. But I've still managed to do every single one of the things I listed above to help my community.
Stay home, stay healthy, it's literally the least you can do.
