The Coronavirus Trade-Off That Won’t Go Away
Whether we like it or not, the choice between lives and the economy is already dictating events.
Saving lives has costs.
Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesThe coronavirus crisis is terrifying not just for its potentially staggering scale, but also for its resistance to rational analysis. It’s forcing governments to make enormously consequential decisions without knowing what the results will be or how alternative courses of action might have played out.
This state of affairs is so unsettling to the rational mind that one longs for rules of thumb that suspend doubt, set complications and trade-offs aside, and offer some clarity. “Just do everything, and worry later about having overreacted” seems to be trending. It sounds reassuring and purposeful, but only so long as you don’t think about it too much.