Flattening the curve is the effort to extend the lockdown period to ease the strain on the healthcare system and save more lives. However, this effort results in a longer economic lock-up because we all need to stay home for a longer period of time to protect ourselves and others from becoming infected.

The big quandary governments across the world are grappling with in this worldwide health crisis is the fine line between valuing each individual life and the need to protect their economies. Each one of them is coming up with its own slightly different version. Governor Cuomo famously said, ”My mother is not expendable,” to make a point about his highest value, each human life.

Here in the US, the Corona pandemic raises the question how the most vulnerable among us, those without health insurance, those without sick leave, those who lost their service jobs right away and have no savings, those whose children are home from school but work on the frontlines, will survive this crisis. And with it goes the question how valuable we would find their services if they were sick and gone? Destitute and gone? Dead and gone? What would we do without delivery services, cleaning personnel, restaurant waiters, and all the other many service providers that make our economy go round and round?

Will this health crisis break the camel’s back? Will people realize that universal healthcare is a pretty smart idea? That a social safety net is better for everybody?

Does your government have your back, or is it throwing you under the bus? Does your government favor corporations at the expense of your life and wellbeing? Does your government tell you “to eat cake” when you say “I don’t have bread,” as out-of-touch Marie-Antoinette told her destitute population before the French Revolution? What’s the highest value of the people you elected?