Donald Trump fears suicide numbers could rise if coronavirus shatters US economy
President Donald Trump on Monday, March 23, sounded an alert saying if restrictions were not lifted from people’s daily life, worse social consequences could be witnessed like rise in suicides. The Trump administration is mulling to put an end to social distancing measures taken to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus that has put the American demography under a serious threat. Over 46,000 people have been affected in the US by the virus while 582 have died.
World over, 0.38 million people have been affected while 16.5k have died. Over 0.1 million people have recovered.
The Trump administration is worried about the economic situation caused by the worldwide paralysis, especially in the election year. The prospects of unemployment touching dangerous levels have left the authorities rattled. Trump has even said repeatedly now that the “cure should not be worse than the problem."
'We have double obligation'
At a regular briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday evening, the Republican leader told the reporters: “You have a tremendous responsibility. We have jobs. We have ... people get tremendous anxiety and depression, and you have suicides over things like this when you have terrible economies. You have death probably in far greater numbers than the numbers we are talking about with regard to the virus.”
He said the authorities now have a “double obligation” to tackle the situation, adding that he was working on timelines for the restrictions to be softened.
The American society has been witnessing indications that people are getting more panicky and unstable. Recent reports have shown that the purchase of arms and ammunition has gone up all over the US for people have started feeling that things could spiral out of the government’s control and the citizens would be then left to defend themselves. The National Rifle Association has used the opportunity to promote the necessity of having the Second Amendment even though anti-gun voices have shown concern.
Economically speaking, Wall Street’s losses continued to get bigger on Monday after the Senate failed to advance a coronavirus rescue package worth $2 trillion even as the Federal Reserve made a valiant effort to lift the economy from tanking. According to a Washington Post report, the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 582 points or three percent to settle at 18,591.
The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell roughly three percent while Nasdaq tipped down 0.3 percent.
The report further added that the markets witnessed a short-lived rise during futures trading after the Fed said it would buy treasuries and mortgage-backed securities “in the amounts needed to support smooth market functioning." But the silver-lining was temporary as the gains got wiped away quickly. The Post added that the investors are feeling more concerned about the enormous stimulus bill that is aimed at tackling the huge layoffs affecting millions of people and the economic shock which is being felt by businesses in nearly every sector.
Politically, too, the situation remained grim as Democrats blocked the bill for the second consecutive day and lawmakers clashed on the Senate floor amid negotiations. They said the Congress should not repeat the errors made during the recession of 2008.