This is a true 100 year catastrophe

[Calculating]

In the company of events like the civil war, great depression, WW2, etc. To grasp the true scale of this, 9-11 was a drop in the bucket compared to the mess we're now in. Events this bad generally only happen once every 50-100+ years, and recovery takes decades. People ask how long it will take to recover from this, well how long did it take to recover from the great depression or civil war?

The damage done largely depends on the length of time things are shut down. We can endure 2 weeks or a month of this, but after that things will start getting bad really fast. (unravelling of civil society level bad). We might simply need to make the sad decision to get things rolling again, send people back to work, and let those who are gonna die expire. We certainly can't afford to keep the whole country on lockdown for the next 8-12 months with 50% unemployment. People will literally riot and the cities will burn. Wars might even happen over resources, and countries will have their governments collapse. We might need to just accept that many people will die and continue with life as usual at some point. I hate even typing this, but baring some kind of miracle like a vaccine coming soon I don't know what can be done. There are no good answers.

[JCMach1]

1. Triage is a word we will know too well in the next few weeks

[RockRaven]

2. The occurrence of the catastrophe is beyond anyone's control. The magnitude is not.

The magnitude is a result of denialism, purposeful-delay, willful-ignorance, and ignoring experts for the sake of PR and political expediency. If the US populace cannot recognize this, then I suppose we (collectively, not individually) deserve the recompense which lies ahead.

[Marrah_Goodman]

3. I think after this we will never be the same

We have never had to deal with the amount of deaths I fear are coming. We could have been prepared for this if the government had had the will to put the resources and money into the CDC, etc. We've allowed religion and greed to trump science and we are paying for it now. I hope that on the other side of this crisis comes some real progressive change.

[roamer65]

4. We held together during 1918-1920.

We can do it now.

[PoliticAverse]

5. I guess the 1918 influenza epidemic (that killed 50-100 million people) is just outside

your "100 year" catastrophe. The world didn't end then (not sure what happened with toilet paper).

[misanthrope]

6. Isn't that what the medical journals from 1920 state?

"If only we'd had more toilet paper."

[Totally Tunsie]

7. The future almost has a Logan's Run feeling to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(film)

It depicts a utopian future society on the surface, revealed as a dystopia where the population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by killing everyone who reaches the age of thirty. The story follows the actions of Logan 5, a "Sandman" who has terminated others who have attempted to escape death and is now faced with termination himself.

[Lock him up.]

8. Hopefully, an opportunity to implement parts (if not full) of...

... the green new deal? (With a Biden administration.)

There is no time to waste. Climate change, if not addressed, will finish everything.

[jimfields33]

9. I wonder how the new green deal will be looked at

It could go either way to be honest. I think survival “today” will be priority which is going to Take decades. The climate change is hugely important and also needs priority. If they can show that the population just lived through what would be basically the new green deal. I think it may get some traction. For example, telework can thrive which keeps cars off the roads. Teleschool which would save on construction of new school buildings and even buses running everyday. If we do this right we might just be able to save our world. I’d love to see the carbon numbers in a few months. I think they will be down significantly.