On March 13th, 2020, all Virginia public schools were officially closed by Governor Ralph Northam following a declaration of a state of emergency on a nationwide scale. Since the closure of schools, not only in Virginia but across the nation, more laws and regulations have been put in place which don’t allow for many to work, leaving unemployment rates skyhigh as well as creating a huge economic disaster.

With this in mind we must ask ourselves the question, “Does the economic aspect of the virus impact the world more, over the health aspect?” Currently, on April 27th, 2020, there are over three million cases of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) worldwide with over two hundred thousand fatalities worldwide along with one million cases in the United States alone. However, when looking at the economic side of the story it is also very serious and devastating. Currently, the United States is suffering with a 15% unemployment rate, which is its largest rate since 1948. In the United States there are many who can’t afford to be off work without pay for such a long time, hence, many people across the United States are protesting for the shutdown to be minimized in order to allow them to work again. According to Business Insider 49 million Americans are projected to go jobless and the unemployment rate is expected to be at roughly 32% very soon at the rate it is currently going in just weeks.

Even though the mortality rate of the virus isn’t too high as it is around 4% to 5%, it is only increasing and the fatalities increase by the thousands daily. However, with that in mind, the economic downfall also increases every week. In fact, in just five weeks it reached what it is today at over 15%. Keeping all this information in mind, we can tell that both the economic and health crisis that resulted from this virus are extremely serious; however, it is best to focus on the most major and common aspects of the virus first. 

The health crisis, as a result of the Coronavirus, is much more serious, and could be even more serious if it is not taken proper care of. In turn, the economy can be fixed as the health crisis fixes itself. However if we start to reopen right now, with how the crisis is going, it will only further cancellations and also potentially cause the economy to worsen.