I’m scared guys and praying honestly doesn’t seem to be making me feel better.
One additional thing you can do is to offer your fear up.
Also consider that such panicking is not rational. It does not help you in any way. Perhaps some verses of Bible (like Matthew 6:34 - “Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.”, Psalm 90:5 “His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night.”) would help at least a little…?
There are also things you might try to do (or, perhaps even more importantly, to recommend to your friends, who are spreading panic
), that might help, should any major problems arise, for example, growing some vegetables. Rather importantly, they would be likely to work as distractions.
I am wondering if anyone can give me some actual insight of how the coronavirus is effecting the economy.
One of my friends said people are going to die from the economic fallout.
It is true that an economic crisis is likely, but “economic crisis” does not instantly mean “people are going to die from the economic fallout” in the relevant sense (people are not going to just starve to death in great numbers any time soon).
Now the pandemic can harm the economy in several ways.
First, there is quarantine, which stops production in several sectors of economy. But the sectors of economy that are hit the hardest by quarantine (for example, tourism, sports) are not really all that essential. They mostly produce luxury goods, people can survive without them. Sectors like farming are not going to be hit by quarantine that badly.
Then there is the loss of purchasing power, when people don’t get wages for the work they used to perform in those sectors. But when that happens, demand for goods decreases. And when that happens, prices fall. It hurts the GDP, but mitigates the problems that might lead to starving to death.
Then there is disruption of supply chains. But many of most essential goods can be produced even if supply chains are disrupted. Sure, fertilizer helps to produce more food, but some food can be produced even without foreign-made fertilizer.
For that matter, the prices of products that those supply chains would have provided are going to rise, leading to increased manufacturing (and manufacturing jobs) locally.
And then there is lost productivity because of sickness. But it is the old people that get the most severe sickness, and they are likely to be retired. So, while things are not good, economy is not going to be affected
that badly in this specific way.
After all, Great Depression did not lead to that many deaths either. Even in Soviet Union famine was not common, unless some government was actively causing it (as in case of Holodomor, Blockade of Leningrad).
So, things might not be great, but they are not as bad, as you and your friends fear.
For now, not spreading the virus is far more important than worrying about the economy.
