money over life

"WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!"
That is copied from a trump tweet about the 15 day social distancing that ends the first week of April.
It is in response to human deaths versus a Bear Stock Market.
If this was an O'Henry story, the president would go with the money, then lose the person he loved most to this virus. Unfortunately, it's no short story, and his malignant narcissism guarantees that the only one he could lose in that category, is himself. I'm not sure how O'Henry could spin that to make it poignant.

But enough about crazy people.

I'm quite sure, there are plenty of people out there that agree with him. They feel themselves above the hoi polloi. They consider this might be a great way to cleanse the planet of some of those 7.8 billion people crammed across the surface.
I'm thinking they don't understand the nature of disease--especially contagious disease.
The virus doesn't care if you are rich or important, powerful or beautiful. It doesn't care if you wear designer suits or work out three times a day and only drink imported glacial water out of lead crystal disposable bottles.
The virus, this virus, causes respiratory symptoms, and is spread by coughing and sneezing. It lives on surfaces anywhere from 3 hours to 3 days, depending on the surface, the temperature and humidity.
If you touch that surface before it has been adequately disinfected with appropriate chemicals, you are exposed to the virus. If you wash your hands after that, but before touching you face or any other surfaces or clothing or eyes or food, your exposure will not lead to infection. But if you, say, touch the back of a chair that someone coughed on 15 minutes before you got there, then straighten your tie, or scratch your leg through your pants or comb back your hair with that hand, or god forbid, go somewhere and eat a meal without thoroughly washing that hand (or after washing those hands, straighten that tie-again, or scratch you leg-again or tidy your hair-again, you are going to eat that virus.
Stomach acid is pretty effective, but on the way down there is the respiratory tract.
Obviously, getting coughed on or sneezed on is a more direct source but talk to those healthcare workers in the 1980's that caught HIV from the environment--oh yeah, you can't.

https://www.livescience.com/3686-gross-science-cough-sneeze.html

Now, let us look at our exposure.

I'm basically a hermit on a good day.
I saw no one yesterday.
I saw my granddaughter and daughter the day before.
I saw my granddaughter the day before that.
I went to the grocery store the day before that.  I consciously avoided getting within 5 foot of anyone except the grocery check-out clerk.

My daughter has a male friend she sees frequently.  And she and my granddaughter went to see a friend of hers for a couple of hours.  My granddaughter babysat 2 kids the day before that.  My daughter was still going to working and seeing clients--multiple clients--until three days before that.

Have I been exposed to anyone that has been exposed?
I was in close proximaty to only 3 people.
But I touched a touch screen while paying and a grocery cart (wipes were empty) and have no idea who might have touched the containers of the food I purchased, even in the 3 hours to 3 days before I grabbed them off the shelf.
I touched the bags, hanging on the racks and turned by the clerk's hand as the clerk fills them.
The clerks were too busy to spray or wipe the conveyor belt between customers.

Then, there is the secondary contact with everyone the three people I've been near.  Seven to 21 days of secondary contact that might have sneezed or coughed near them or on a surface they touched.

I woke up coughing and sneezing yesterday and declared--"NO VISITORS" for 14 days.  My son, concerned, asked if I needed him to bring me anything.  I reassured him I am well stocked for at least a week.  My daughter asked if I was over-reacting.  My granddaughter was sad because I have Sims4 on my computer and its boring at home.

I have seen plenty of wealthy people already testing positive.
Around here, if you aren't about ready for ICU and a VENT, ER's are sending you home untested.  Lack of Tests, lack of Masks, lack of gloves--we are not ready.  Unlike Ebola, instead of spending months preparing for that first case so we could catch it before it was in the general population, we spent three months acting like china was over-reacting.  We had already dismantled the team that handled Ebola--and they did a great job--but it was an OBAMA team.  The Republic of the Congo should have been so lucky as to have our team.

But-----now it is messing with the economy.  Social distancing limits use of gasoline, shopping, impulse buying, planned elective surgeries. The stock markets are erratic in a big way.

Can losing 10 million people in the USA really be that bad?

Of course, that is in addition to the usual deaths by other causes.

Who are you ok with losing?