We are overflowing with statistics about COVID-19 right now, and the average person probably cannot tell what is meaningful to them personally.
Public opinion will ultimately look at three statistics when judging how their government has handled things:
- How many people I know have died
- How long I was in isolation
- How long my life was not completely normal
The time factors are not terribly important within a country. You are without normality for however long the experts decided was necessary. Hard for a regular person to argue.
But, we will see some countries come out of lockdown sooner than others… that will really, really hurt.
Perhaps people in the USA will see Australians going back to bars and restaurants two months before they could.
And that is when they start asking their leaders why. Why us and not them?
And it will be very hard for leaders to spin out of. I expect they will need to say that their country did not respond quick enough. Nothing else will ring true.
And that will see them un-elected. Not the economy, or the number dead, but how long life wasn’t normal.