Should the US Economy Be Shut Down again during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic if Recommended by Scientists?

2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SITE

Last updated on: 8/27/2020 8:45:24 AM PST

During the 2020 COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, most states shut down, asking residents to stay home to lessen the spread of the virus. States began phased reopening in April through June, though restrictions on gatherings and certain types of businesses (gyms, movie theaters, etc) remain in place in many states. A national shutdown was not implemented as of Aug. 27, 2020.

The question of how the shutdowns are effecting the economy is being debated as unemployment claims rise and businesses remain closed or only in partial operation.

Source: National Academy for State Health Policy, "Chart: Each State's COVID-19 Reopening and Reclosing Plans and Mask Requirements," nashp.org, Aug. 20, 2020

Pro

Biden

Con

Jorgensen

Trump

Not Clear or Not Found

Hawkins

Pro (Yes)

Pro

Biden
Democrat

David Muir: “You’re sworn in, come January, and we have coronavirus and the flu combined, which many scientists have said is a real possibility. Would you be prepared to shut this country down again?”

Joe Biden: “I would be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives, because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus. That is the fundamental flaw of this [Trump] administration’s thinking to begin with. In order to keep the country running and moving and the economy growing and people employed, you have to fix the virus. You have to deal with the virus.”

Muir: “So if the scientists say, shut it down?”

Biden: “I would shut it down. I would listen to the scientists.”

Source: Savannah Behrmann, “‘I Would Shut It Down’: Biden Says If Scientists Recommended, He Would Lock Down Country to Curb COVID-19,” usatoday.com, Aug. 21, 2020

Con (No)

Con

Jorgensen
Libertarian

"No. Blanket shutdowns of the economy are a drastic, devastating tool, and it isn’t clear locking down healthy, low-risk people does any good. We haven’t even begun to calculate the consequences of shutdowns, which include: raising rates of alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence, and suicide; people skipping chemotherapy and other vital medical treatments; people with strokes and heart attacks avoiding emergency rooms; small business closures, unemployment, bankruptcy, eviction, increased poverty. The consequences of this coercive 'cure' will likely be far more devastating than the disease itself."

Source: Communication from the Jorgensen campaign to ProCon.org on Sep. 8, 2020.

Con

Trump
Republican

“It’s important for all Americans to recognize that a permanent lockdown is not a viable path forward producing the result that you want or certainly not a viable path forward and would ultimately inflict more harm than it would prevent. Lockdowns do not prevent infection in the future. They just don’t. It comes back many times, it comes back.”

Source: Berkeley Lovelace, Jr. and Noah Higgins-Dunn, “Trump Says Nationwide Lockdown Would ‘Ultimately Inflict More Harm Than It Would Prevent,’” cnbc.com, Aug. 3, 2020

None Found

Hawkins
Green

No position found as of Aug. 27, 2020.

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