There is no doubt the chaos surrounding the flu is killing productivity. The media exploits every death, maximizing fear among the proletariat.
What seems to make this strain of flu novel is that it is extremely contagious. This results in large spikes of infected overwhelming our hospitals.
Supply pipelines are draining due to labor lockouts. At some point the food supply will become acutely constrained and rationing will be needed.
Like sand in the gearbox the whole economy has been crippled overnight.
It will take a very long time to rebuild, restart and stabalize the economy. The only good news is that when that time comes, thousands of companies and millions of people will be working on restoring the economy.
The oligarchs thrive on the chaos because it creates opportunities to assert more control.
Prepare for the worst.