Should we shut it all down? (long)

Quite a few people are screaming "shut it all down" or "shut down all but the essential businesses!" Well, let's take a look at what that really means.

Most of them probably think an essential business is a grocery store, pharmacy, and only a few other enterprises. Hmm.... what about mechanics? Cars break. Broken cars mean people can't get food or medicine, much less get to the doctor. Take something as trivial as the Apple Store. Alot of people, including elderly, only have Iphones for their phone lines. Phones break. Suddenly there is no way to check on Grandma because her phone can't is broken or was dropped in the sink accidentally. Shut down Best Buy? Yeah, shut down the only tech store left when everyone is working from home and online.

Dry cleaners? Know how many elderly and poor people use dry cleaners for laundry service? Send the lawn crews home. Yeah, allow grass to grow real high. It causes a sanitation problem as rodents find a home.

Getting the picture? That list of essential businesses is probably much longer than you thought it was. It so long that it probably defeats the purpose of a shut down.

Then there is the matter of enforcement. How long before the orders are ignored? Shut down the hair salons, for another example. In a week or two when the hairdressers run out of money because too many of them spend their cash as they make it, the shutdown will go out the window. Some out of the way salons will quietly take their regular clients. Others will take their tools home, call their regulars, and go to their homes to do their hair. Yeah, some shut down. That is just one of many industries that can easily skirt shutdown orders.

Then there is the practicality of a shutdown. Take my cobbler. He works alone. Shoes are dropped off at front of the store. He has a 3 week wait as it is. Why should he shut down when he is working alone and paying property taxes?

The real problem is groups of people congregating. Shutdowns might work but for only a couple of weeks before they start getting ignored and everyone realizes Covid-19 is not the plague. The list of essential businesses will be so long that those affected by a shutdown will grow very envious of those allowed to stay open.