North Cook News

Although the public is at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, some believe it’s time to reassess the idea that public health is more important than the economy. 

Businesses in Illinois, like others across the country, are in dire straits, thanks the to coronavirus outbreak, and Body Science Fitness Center owner Tony Duncan is worried. He opened his business in Kenilworth, Ill., three months ago with a long-term lease. He had eight employees.

“If this were to go on for another six weeks, we’d be destroyed. There’s just no getting out of that,” Duncan said.

He worries about his team members' emotional health and says this is linked to their ability to work.

“What my team has been struggling to understand is, what are they supposed to do? We’re all dealing with the overwhelming economic impact of not being able to work,” Duncan said. “You can’t have any wealth greater than physical health. But the amount of emotional, psychological and economic health that’s necessary involves going to work, it involves being a productive citizen, it involves seeing your actions keep you safe and in place for long-term survival.”

Discussions of the economic impact of the shutdown aren’t always productive, but there’s no denying that the unemployment figures could be expected to rise to 50 million or more in the second quarter.  

As of February 2020, there were 5.8 million individuals unemployed in the United States, but even the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is estimating that the impact of the economic shutdown could exceed the number of coronavirus-related deaths for the second quarter. The St. Louis bank has estimated an increase of 46.9 million unemployed individuals since February, all due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

It doesn’t have to be that way, if people can come together to create a plan.

“If we can just find a plan that everybody can buy into – a realistic, comprehensive plan,” Duncan said. “Success is getting back to where we were just a few weeks ago.”