What’s Next?

COVID-19, a virus that haunts the thoughts of billions of people, has infected over 120,000 people in the United States, but it has affected millions. In several states, everything has come to a halt, with all non-essential businesses closing down and everyone being told to stay home. Big cities like Los Angeles and New York City have never seen such empty streets, and open spaces like Times Square are deserted. Everyone agrees that social distancing is key, but one cannot help but wonder how everyone’s lives will change as a result. The simplest way to phrase it is: what’s next? What happens to people who work in restaurants? What happens to people who drive taxis? What happens to people who are paying rent, or are paying off a mortgage? The federal government has come through with a $2 trillion stimulus package, but how much will that actually help the 330 million people living in the United States? COVID-19 may cause fear, but the fear of uncertainty in our collective present life is unprecedented.

The current situation reflects the effects of three weeks of COVID-19, making it seem only temporary. It can seem feasible at the moment, and because the thought of it being more permanent is scary, thinking of it as temporary can be calming. However, it’s time to think of what will happen in the next few months. With the way the coronavirus is spreading, there is no way to truly know when normalcy or something close to normalcy will be restored. Considering that the United States is now in a state of national emergency, COVID-19 is a national problem and one that the federal government must manage. This goes for the effects of COVID-19 as well: it is up to the federal government to provide relief options for people in financial trouble.

Many people have expressed their struggles to the federal government, and this activism has worked. President Donald Trump signed into law a $2 trillion stimulus package for the American public on March 27, 2020. The package will give one-time direct payments to Americans: $1,200 per adult making up to $75,000 a year; $2,400 per married couple making up to $150,000 a year; and $500 per child. While this money will help families all over the country, it is only temporary relief. The stimulus package provides one-time payments, ignoring the fact that families will be out of money before the presence of COVID-19 has fully disappeared. The stimulus package also ignores people with ongoing medical conditions. There are millions of people in the United States with illnesses like diabetes and cardiac issues who regularly pay for medication. The $1,200-$2,400 may be helpful, but it will not cover their medication, rent, bills, and other necessities.

The entire situation is truly surreal and it can be hard to understand others’ problems when you are not going through anything yourself. In light of that, I thought I would share my own experience as well as another experience with COVID-19 to show the reality of the situation.

My family consists of my mom, my dad, my two sisters, my brother, and me. My mom stays at home and my dad is a waiter at Eleven Madison Park, a restaurant in Manhattan. The restaurant only offers dining, and there are no takeout or delivery options, which is typical for a gourmet restaurant like Eleven Madison Park. Like other waiters, much of the money my dad makes is made up of tips. With the restaurant closed, there are no tips, which means that there is no money coming into our family. We are lucky because my dad has saved some money over the years, but there are many costs that most kids do not ever see. My parents pay phone bills, internet bills, gas bills, water bills, and electricity bills. They pay for rent, food, clothes, and pretty much anything that I have around me and take for granted every day.

My family is fine at the moment, but there is another story I would like to share of a family whose identity I’ll keep anonymous with a worsening financial situation. It is a family of a mom, a dad, and two kids. The dad is a taxi driver and the mom works at a chain drugstore. With people rarely going outside, there is no one to take taxi rides, leaving the dad with no income. Taxis are also typically rented for $300 a month, and with no income, it means that the family is in a monthly deficit of $300. To make up for this, the mom has taken on extra hours working at the drugstore, endangering her own health so that her family can have money for groceries and bills. The dad’s parents are also staying with the family, and their medical conditions come with high expenses. The family also pays a monthly mortgage for their house, pushing them to take out loans that they do not know when they can pay back. The $2,400 will not last them long, and they have no idea of what will happen once that money is gone.

During this time, it is important to remember that there are people who were suffering before COVID-19 and are suffering even more now. Most generations in the United States have never experienced something of this magnitude. The situation is only getting worse, and hopefully, the $2 trillion stimulus package will help stabilize hospitals and family lives. There is still uncertainty for what will happen after all of this is over. The businesses that shut down may take months to recover, and hundreds of families will continue to be in debt.

The best option is to urge Congress to enact a law mandating a strong pandemic response team such that emergency plans are available in times of crisis. The current law gives the president extremely broad authority, risking abuse of such powers. A perfect example of this is when in 2018, President Trump eliminated a pandemic response unit that had prepared for a potential virus outbreak. If the executive branch did not have this kind of power, then that response team may have still been in office, allowing for faster responses and benefits for the American people. This entire experience will hopefully teach the United States government that preparation is important and that emergency protocols must be taken seriously. Though it is true that this pandemic came with little warning, it is also true that if the federal government had a real Plan B, it is likely that we would all be in much better shape.