All across the US, in cities, big and small, at the beaches and lakefronts, in mountain resorts, everywhere, there are empty hotels and airports because of the government-ordered shutdowns, social distancing and a fear level approaching paranoia. The economic impact is wide and deeply felt and any return will be to a “new normal” and not the way things were before the outbreak of the pandemic. While most public schools remain closed, millions of students are dependent on the internet for distance-learning classes, instead of the ubiquitous yellow school buses. This leaves thousands of school bus drivers without jobs, and in many cases, unpaid.

Stonington, in Connecticut, a collection of small villages along the shore on Long Island Sound, became a summer getaway when the train line was built in the mid-19th century between Boston and New York City. Its two largest tourist attractions have now laid off many workers. The Mystic Aquarium has kept only the staff needed to care for its animals. It plans to keep paying the staff but the length of the shutdown may be a factor. The nearby Mystic Seaport Museum is closed for visitors. Its large collection of old wooden ships and whaling artifacts is a big draw. Spokesman Don McFadden said: “The closure and layoffs are disappointing because they come just after the blockbuster JMW Turner paintings’ exhibition that attracted 95,000 visitors this winter, a stunning 89 percent increase over the same time period last winter.”

The Seaport has become one of the main engines of local hospitality growth in the last decade, along with two gambling casinos, nearby. They are closing just as Las Vegas closed its hotels and casinos when giant conventions, that bring hundreds of thousands of visitors, were cancelled. It is difficult to believe that special financial support from the federal government can do much more than keep people breathing desperately. Ironically, a big reduction in the use of fossil fuels for industry and transport can clean up the globe’s atmosphere.

Inter-state life and travel have always been unfettered across America’s 50 states, but that, too, can change. Rhode Island, the smallest state, is sandwiched between Boston and New York. Rhode Island’s governor has ordered all out-of-staters coming there to self-quarantine for 14 days with police checkpoints stopping out-of-state cars. This is unprecedented in the US.

Elements of these situations are playing out across America and the globe. The impact on cultural institutions that depend financially on visitors who now cannot travel is difficult to calculate. The US hospitality sectors seek hundreds of billions in federal support. Thousands of Indian families immigrated to America, buying and operating moderately-priced motels in smaller cities and towns. Where they come in a bailout plan is unclear. Big city hotel occupancy rates have cratered from 80 percent six weeks ago to barely 20 percent now. Without federal aid, the travel and lodging trade organisation claims that the US could lose as many as four million jobs in 2020. The irony is that the Russian-Saudi Arabian oil price war has brought the cost of a litre of petrol down to about 52 US cents (Rs 40), approximately half the cost of a litre in India. But the problem is whatever the price of fuel, there is no place to go.

—The writer has worked in senior positions at The Washington Post, NBC, ABC and CNN and also consults for several Indian channels

Lead picture: Miami Beach in the US has been shut down in an effort to contain the coronavirus. File Photo by Highsmith, Carol M @loc.gov

It would be comedy if it weren’t so painful and deadly. People stripping grocery store shelves bare of toilet paper and hand sanitiser. A virus from China named like Mexico’s Corona beer brand has brought the United States to a state of siege where the economy is crashing, people are dying and with it diminishing optimism among Donald Trump’s advisors and pundits that he can be re-elected.

You cannot gaslight a pandemic.

The states of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey have ordered restaurants and clubs to only provide takeaway, no sit-down dining or entertaining. A few days ago, a drive into New York City and a walking tour indicated that the Big Apple had lost something, as Broadway shows were closed and now the restaurant ban is in effect. The Broadway show closings alone put nearly 250,000 people on leave, most of whom do not get paid if they don’t work. Add in all the support businesses—suppliers of services to the hospitality business—and it becomes quickly obvious that without the bells and whistles, New York City is a very quiet and dismal place.

A Friday afternoon felt like an early Sunday morning, not much traffic, a few people jogging in Central Park, while others sat on the steps of closed museums and art galleries.

On a warm March day, the Columbia University quadrangle was empty. Usually it would have been filled with students relaxing in the 17-degree Celsius sunlight. Schools across America have been shut for the foreseeable future. Will there be graduation ceremonies in May as promised by a Columbia poster? Doubtful and with it goes an entire subset of business services that make graduations festive, from caps and gowns, to all the food and drink served outdoors to the graduates and their families.

All of this was in stark contrast to New York City in the days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Then the resilience and bravado of Americans was on full display with flags and signs and a desire to rebuild quickly. Now an air of resignation elevated by fear is on display.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat and son of a famous former governor, took a very proactive position from the start of the health crisis, while criticising President Trump’s lack of political leadership. Cuomo emphasised that the priority must remain slowing the spread of the virus, saying: “You are past the time of monetising these decisions. You are at a point of deciding: how many people are going to live, how many people are going to die?”

The imposition of behavioural controls doesn’t conform to the mythology of America—wide-open roads and spaces, a go anywhere, do anything, wherever you want to sort of a place. And more distressing to some is that this is an unseen assailant that knows no class or geographic boundaries.

What we do know is that it has a higher fatality rate among elderly people, especially those with underlying health issues. For several weeks, the president of the United States kept insisting that it was just like the flu. It is not flu, it is a lung disease. For the most part, the health experts assembled around Trump kept their mouths shut, with only grim faces and crossed arms contradicting him.

The American health system looks particularly ineffective given the magnitude of the problem. There’s a lot of confusion about respirators vs ventilators. And it comes from a lack of understanding just how few hospital beds exist in a nation of 330,000,000 people.

Respirators protect the doctors, allowing them to breathe safe, filtered air. Critically ill patients require ventilation—hence ventilators, a shortage that directly results in death. Indirectly, the respirator shortage will result in infected healthcare workers, some of whom will die.

Memories and anger are long-lasting when loved ones die and fail to make the graduation ceremonies. The impact, both financially and psychologically, is going to last a long time and change America forever. The question no one can answer right now is in which direction.

— The writer has worked in senior positions at The Washington Post, NBC, ABC and CNN and also consults forseveral Indian channels

Lead picture: Kenneth Tiven