At least 10% of the labor force is unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 6 million people filed for unemployment this past week, which is the third consecutive week unemployment claims have surpassed 5 million. That’s nearly 17 million people, and we still don’t know how we’re going to put them back to work.
We need a plan to reopen America, and we need it now.
The preventative steps the country has taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and flatten the curve have been necessary, but they’re quickly becoming unsustainable. Economic stagnation is its own kind of problem, and if it is not addressed soon, its effects could become permanent.
If President Trump’s coronavirus task force believes a continued shutdown is necessary, then the federal government must provide even more aid and economic relief to struggling businesses and unemployed workers. A one-time $1,200 check simply isn’t going to cut it.
Sen. Josh Hawley has an ambitious plan for rehiring every single one of the 17 million unemployed. He wants the government to give companies and businesses incentives for mass rehiring and then cover the payroll of every worker up to the median wage. This might be overzealous, but it’s still a plan — and right now, it’s one of the only ones we have.
Trump has yet to lay out his own plan for an economic reopening. He must do so soon. We need a step-by-step approach that lays out what to expect and when to expect it. That plan must include various conditions that explain when certain actions can be taken. For example, when the growth of new cases is below X% in a city or state for a week, those areas can consider lifting stay-at-home orders.
Right now, we only know that hospitals need more resources and that individual states need to complete more testing before the shutdown can be lifted. But there are still a lot of missing details, and the uncertainty will only make things worse as jobs continue to disappear.
It’s important to understand that any plan Trump introduces to reopen the country must remain flexible. The situation has changed rapidly, and our policies must be able to change with it. But the government should at least give the public some sort of insight into our next steps. Will we be required to wear masks in public? Will social gatherings still be restricted? Will restaurants and other public places be required to screen for fevers?
Millions of people are suffering right now. The government has required them to give up their livelihoods, communities, and some of the liberties we once enjoyed — and many have done so willingly, for the sake of community health. Now, it is the government’s responsibility to make sure those sacrifices were worth it.
