If the people of the United States paniced, like Trump thinks they might have over the threat of Covid-19, what might that panic look like?

I would hoard toilet paper and food. Maybe bleach everything even though It doesn’t help destroy Covid19.

If Trump had been honest in February, maybe the “panic” would look something like this: People would have done what they could to keep the virus from spreading, including physical distancing, masks, and other measures. This “panic” would likely result in significantly-less deaths, a much earlier opening of the economy, jobs would be saved, a more “normal” education for children, etc. It would be pure chaos.

The market could have crashed worse if it caught everyone by surprise. That could have lead to a complete breakdown, runs on the banks, rioting, martial law, which could have spread the virus faster in the earlier days when we didn’t understand the risks from airborne transmission as well as we do now, or have the protocols in place for provider safety, etc.

Basically it could have triggered what happened in New York all over the country, with the addition of violence, looting and chaos on top of the healthcare crisis.

@gorillapaws But that didn’t happen anywhere else where the government was up front with people.

If Trump had been honest back in February, the whole pandemic could have been much more contained than it was.

@zenvelo “But that didn’t happen anywhere else’

Other countries don’t have the same love for financial deregulation and eliminating basic social welfare programs that we do. We’ve been systematically disarming all of the tools we put in place to prevent a second great depression over the decades. Also many of those other countries didn’t collapse financially precisely because it didn’t happen here. Remember it fell hard and fast, but there was a floor to it. If it had broken through, it could have caused a self-reinforcing downward spiral and been much worse.

More people would have social distanced and worn face masks.
So there would be more people.

More STUPID people would have worn their masks and kept their STUPID asses away from crowds and beaches. But then again, it doesn’t matter what Trump says. Had he told the truth concerning the severity of the disease, who would believe he knew what the fk he was talking about? It no longer matters what Trump has to say regarding any subject. The truth from Trump is as random as the flip of a coin.

@stanleybmanly “The truth from Trump is as random as the flip of a coin.”

I say bullshit. Trump come nowhere near telling the truth half the time. The man lies repeatedly and doubles down on lying even when given an out to be honest.

To tell the truth, a little more panic early on with messaging on how to deal with it would have saved a lot of lives.

Thing is he wasn’t upfront and people did panic. Hence, for example, the hoarding of basic, mundane items like toilet paper.

I think maybe it would have looked like 2009 H1N1. People were freaking out. Not much different than late March 2020 for covid.

People would have hoarded grocery items much like they did in late March.

We would have had LESS infection in America probably if we started distancing and quarantining sooner.

People might have canceled some trips, the economy would have had some more dings in it earlier, especially hospitality and travel, but maybe less of a problem in the long run.