Who the People?

Republicans HATE big government.  At the same time, they deeply respect the power of government, especially when that power lies in the military.  Somehow Medicaid is "Big Government" and evil, but military bases that provide military personnel everything from housing to chewing gum, is neither "big" nor evil.  Now, of course, Republicans think the economy shut down because government said so ("Yay!"), but will re-open and rebound because....government says so.

Except We the People, whom the Republicans always claim to champion, are the ones in control.  We shut down the economy; and we will reopen it.

We estimate how state job market conditions respond to state COVID-19 infections and school closures, which are the earliest of the major mitigation policies. Mitigation policies and local epidemiological conditions explain some of the variation in unemployment patterns. However, the historically unprecedented increase in new UI claims during the weeks of March 15-21 and March 22-28 was largely across-the-board and occurred in all states. This suggests most of the economic disruption was driven by the health shock itself. Put differently, it appears that the labor market slowdown was due primarily to a nationwide response to evolving epidemiological conditions and that individual state policies and own epidemiologic situations have had a comparatively modest effect.

Using restaurants as a barometer (yes, seating is supposed to be limited, but there are anecdotal stories of food service outlets trying, and failing, to control crowds in some circumstances.):

At restaurants that use OpenTable’s booking software, the number of diners in every state where the company tracks data was still down by 82 percent or more through Sunday, compared to a year before. That includes early reopeners like Georgia (down 92 percent), Utah (down 91 percent), Nebraska (down 90 percent), South Carolina (down 89 percent), Tennessee (down 87 percent), Texas (down 83 percent), and Oklahoma (down 82 percent). 

To put it another way:

Dining out is also a good bellwether for people’s willingness live regular lives in which they spend extended periods of time indoors around other living, breathing human beings. If what we’re seeing in Texas, Georgia, and elsewhere is any hint, we’re headed for a gradual return to normalcy, not an instant, V-shaped bounce-back. 

Yes, people have to go back out; we can't stay quarantined until a vaccine is found (18 months?  48 months?  Who knows?).  But We the People are in charge of our lives.  And we aren't listening to Trump's cheerleaders, either; probably for good reason:

This is amazing. Fox's offices will be largely closed for another month *at the very least,* @brianstelter reports in his newsletter.

"It's strange to see Fox stars hosting from home...telling viewers that it's time to get back out," Stelter says.

Reupping: https://t.co/iDepH0ax70

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 12, 2020