UNITED STATES - As the pandemic continues globally, parts of the U.S. are re-opening despite the real risks of surging infections and deaths due to COVID-19. While the one-time stimulus check of the CARES Act kept landlords and bill collectors temporarily at bay, it has been widely considered as “not enough,” with recent polling indicating that 82% of Americans would prefer the stimulus checks to be re-occurring monthly.

Time Money Puppet, Photo by Thomas Skirde

This recent shift in opinion shows that Americans are beginning to show a clear preference for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) solution. UBI is a guaranteed income provided by a government entity on a reoccurring basis that is additional to the current entitlement programs such as social security, disability, and welfare benefits.

There are clear trends that show why this shift in opinion on UBI is shifting. While facilities, workplaces, and government services previously closed or partially shut down due to social distancing requirements begin to reopen slowly, but this will not alleviate the pain felt by the most economically vulnerable. Increased under-employment and unemployment continues despite the end of lockdown. Those fortunate to still be in the labor force are not making enough money to repay loans from predatory lenders or credit card companies to survive.

The number of people negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic suffering from food and housing insecurity is drawing increased comparisons to the Great Depression, demonstrating that more progress needs to be made to avoid further adverse economic consequences. Furthermore, an estimated 27 million people lost their health insurance as of May 2, 2020. In all of this bad news, there is evidence of an "inevitable" second wave of infections and further lockdowns in the upcoming fall and winter seasons.

Social distancing requirements over an extended period, as well as the unanticipated financial repercussions of the pandemic itself, might also make a policy like UBI more attractive to the public. The promised money granted to citizens through UBI programs could act as an additional incentive for people to wear masks and social distance to prevent the resurgence of infections and deaths. At the moment in states like Mississippi, California, and Texas have witnessed rates of disease and hospitalizations continue to rise.

Even states considered to have handled the pandemic "successfully" are proceeding forward with caution in the hope that a vaccine may be developed before the fall when flu season begins. In the meantime, multiple states are adopting requirements to guide phased reopening of non-essential business sectors.

Universal Basic Income could also help workers with expenses during the transition back into the workforce, particularly in the capacity of remote work or even becoming entrepreneurs. Investment remains a prohibitive hurdle for startups, and the UBI may mitigate this barrier. Entrepreneurs and small business owners are the engines of the American economy, by enabling people to afford the costs for technology, broadband access, office equipment, and resources and other upfront costs, while guaranteeing dependable income.

This surety of regular, guaranteed income can lead to increased credit scores that will enable people to access to loans and other financial instruments. This will help more people realize the American dream, not through a handout, but as a stepping stone to upward mobility. But, most importantly, in this era of disease and pandemic, as the Trump administration continues the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act and contraction of Medicaid, UBI could become the difference between life and death, between going hungry or buying food, between purchasing medicine or going without taking it.

In any case, the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be a transformative event in the global economy, one that is causing a definite shift in public awareness and preferences. The acceptance of Universal Basic Income in the form of monthly payments without any preconditions is not that different from the initial CARES Act, which, if extended, would serve as a precursor model. Both would have the potential to jumpstart the economy while undergirding the most vulnerable populations until a vaccine for COVID-19 is successfully developed and deployed on a national scale. Until then, as the U.S. economy recovers, the government must focus on a long-term economic strategy that will address the unique demands of the ongoing pandemic and its effects on private budgetary security.