The intertwined vulnerabilities of health and economic disparities have perhaps never been more apparent than they are during the COVID-19 crisis. And one of the most consistent research findings is that the health hazards of recessions, much like the economic injuries they inflict, are uneven and fall heaviest on those who were already disadvantaged. Yet, there is also ample evidence that poverty is unhealthy. Rather than a straightforward relationship, however, the research reveals a complicated set of interactions between the economy and health.Ĭounterintuitively, many studies have found some health benefits from economic slowdowns. Recessions do increase suicides and the risk of other serious threats to mental and physical well-being, both immediate and long term. Public health experts quickly rejected the president’s assertion. Probably and-I mean, definitely would be in far greater numbers than the numbers that we’re talking about with regard to the virus.” “You have suicides over things like this when you have terrible economies,” he said. At a news conference the next day, Trump claimed that the health toll on Americans from the slow economy would exceed the damage from COVID-19. First-time unemployment claims had exploded to more than 3 million the previous week, and the stock market was plummeting. But the president’s all-caps alarm focused instead on the economic free fall triggered by both the rapidly spreading global health threat and federal and state efforts to slow the contagion by limiting gatherings, travel, and “nonessential” business activity. Just before midnight on Sunday, March 22, 2020, President Donald Trump tweeted, “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.”Īmerica was just weeks into its coronavirus outbreak and was facing accelerating rates of infections and deaths.
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