Yeah, the idea that all of these businesses shutting down has little consequence to the public (regardless of whether they open again) is incredibly tone deaf, with somewhere around 15% of the US population impacted by these closures. Worse, this population likely overlaps with the most at-risk when it comes to both health and financial standing.

HN is not US-only.

In Europe, losing your job does not mean losing your health nor your finances.

Sure, but we're discussing a shutdown in the Bay Area, so the American reality is the proper context.

> In Europe, losing your job does not mean losing your health nor your finances.

It does if you're freelance, which a lot of the events industry is. Or if you work for a small business that folds as soon as it has no business.

It sounds cold but the reality is that other restaurants will open to replace the ones that never reopen because a demand for them will exist thanks to places like Tesla staying open and pumping revenue into the local economy.

This sounds backwards:

Electric cars are fungible, social fabric is not.

So we can lose Tesla and be fine with remaining electric car manufacturers or new ones. In contrast, losing a long-term social hub is a lasting negative impact.

Average life span of a restaurant is 5 years. The majority that go under will not have been long-term social hubs.

Yeah, but a lot of them will likely be chains. A lot of culture will be lost, at least here in the UK.