The only conflict here is between stupid shortsighted people and those who can actually think about consequences of their actions.
There are really only two outcomes to the course of this virus in the US. In one we limit initial spread long enough for widespread testing to isolate remaining cases and eliminate it from the population. Actual levels of infection are likely already well in the hundreds of thousands and we probably have locked in a couple million total cases. That will result in tens of thousands of deaths, overwhelmed hospitals and also require a nearly full stop of the economy for 6 weeks. That is the good outcome.
If we do not stop this quickly and eliminate it from the population we will soon lose any ability to prevent it from racing through much of the population - we will need to reach 40-60% having had the virus before herd immunity will allow us another chance to bring it under control. That will happen in a matter of months. Peak infection rates will be at 10-15% of the US population — as many as 50 million at a time. The nightmare in Italy and New York hospitals is happening at levels much less than 1% infection rate. In an uncontrolled outbreak we have have essentially no ability to treat the roughly 10% that are getting icu care. Many if not most of those will die. 10 million deaths in the US is not an unreasonable expectation.
I am a PhD economist, but you shouldn’t need me to tell you that the economy is not going to perk up with millions dying every month. Trump is not going to get reelected based on the strength of the economy in that scenario. The problem from the beginning of this crisis has been that Trump and his cronies are trying to control the secondary impacts of the epidemic, on political viewpoints, on the economy, on the stock market. Again and again the physical reality of the epidemic has reshaped all those things in ways that rendered their shortsighted pr efforts meaningless.
The only hope for resuming growth this year is that we essentially eliminate the virus and people can resume more or less normal social activities. Even then restarting the economy will require extremely deft and determined use of fiscal policy to insulate workers and consumers from the impact of the shutdown. It is most likely that this episode will exacerbate existing income inequality and disrupt consumption choices in ways that will have a lasting impact which more than offsets any deferred demand.
One final note: we (progressive Democrats) should avoid the same errors Republicans are making. The election will not be determined in the next week, and while Trump may be getting temporary traction by claiming that everything will be fine in two weeks, the disaster is looming ahead, not past and that will change everything. If Biden can nudge DeSantis toward a better policy he should do that because it is the right thing to do. It will help to be on record supporting the science and health care professionals. But being visibly partisan to get a few extra poll points now will only undercut his essential message when it counts. Stop worrying about politics and focus on policy. Since Trump and friends cant seem to do that it is both the right thing and ultimately the politic thing to do.