You raise fair points. I don’t imagine I will persuade you that the “Shut it down, start over, do it right” option may be the most promising — though, as with all options, very painful — path forward. I will, however, repost the link, which purports to be a statement by hundreds/thousands of scientists, doctors, nurses, researchers. These folks think they’re realistic, as do I. The “do it right” part is the key, and undoubtedly less controversial than the phrase “shut it down.”
https://uspirg.org/resources/usp/shu...er-do-it-right
You’re right that we have agonizing choices. I have seen serious, plausible arguments from various perspectives, with the obvious exception of, “It is what it is.”
Here’s a key passage that directly responds to your second question:
”The best thing for the nation is not to reopen as quickly as possible, it’s to save as many lives as possible. And reopening before suppressing the virus isn’t going to help the economy. Economists have gone on record saying that the only way to “restore the economy is to address the pandemic itself,” pointing out that until we find a way to boost testing and develop and distribute a vaccine, open or not, people will not be in the mood to participate.”
Clearly,
some people do now, and will continue to, participate in a partial reopening. But a clear majority have thoroughly changed their behavior, participate minimally, and hope desperately for breakthroughs in treatment and a vaccine.
As to a mountain of federal debt, that is a major issue, a bad thing. Yet the new Trump Republican Party has not been faithful, to put it mildly, to its previous commitment to fiscal responsibility.