Since it is all that anyone can talk about, I decided to focus my interview on the coronavirus and how it will affect our economy in the future. Additionally, I had read an article yesterday when the Dow, an index that tracks thirty large publicly owned companies trading on the stock market, dropped 2,000 points. This was the worst fall since October 15, 2008. There are many fears among investors that the coronavirus will disrupt global supply chains and lead our economy into a recession. The coronavirus has become a crisis worldwide, and it was only a matter of time before it hit our economy as well.

In order to determine what my peers generally thought about the coronavirus and the economy, I asked them the extremely broad question: “How do you think the coronavirus will affect the economy now and in the future?” I was not surprised when they focused on what is close to heart for all of us: school. Practically everyone I interviewed said that they were worried about school shutting down and what that would mean for their tuition costs. One student said, “I understand why it might be safer to go online, but we paid to be here at school for the entire semester. Would I get money back for my dorm room and meal plan?”

Another student brought up businesses that may have to shut down if their office becomes infected; “If schools are shutting down, I feel like businesses would also be thinking about shutting down for a while since the virus is more deadly for older people anyways.” This is a good but scary point. What would happen if grocery stores had to shut down? A third student brought up leisure activities; “Just today they postponed Coachella and I have heard of other concerts doing the same. That is an entire business itself and I’m sure that other activities will have to be postponed too. People are also afraid to travel. This would definitely affect the economy.” I had not thought of how leisure activities would affect the economy, so I did some research on it after the interviews. Apparently, since the virus hit less people have been going to movies and traveling has definitely been cut down. There are some countries who depend on tourists, so this is something that could greatly affect them.

Overall, fear of the coronavirus extends far beyond our health. With everything happening so quickly, it is easy for things to unravel quickly as well. If we are not careful, our economy could suffer from this.