COVID-19 MITIGATION MEASURES, THEIR ECONOMIC IMPACT AND WAY BACK TO THE OLD NORMAL.

COVID-19 pandemic has caught us off guard. Policy makers did not have a chance to study various options of mitigation policy measures and the respective consequences on the public health and economic activity in the long term. People were dying and many. Politicians needed to act and act fast. Majority of countries have imposed rather strong COVID-19 containment measures. Paper discusses the various effects of mitigation policies and most importantly the effects on the GDP and the costs of long term recovery. The analytics will uncover various correlations between stringency of containment measures and the mobility of population. Voluntary and orderly self-distancing of people is also important determinant of the stringency and mobility reduction associated with that. The economic crises of such magnitude requires fast and coordinated monetary and fiscal policy action. It is also clear that just taking the decisions of providing massive amounts of money to stimulate economy does not guarantee a success. There are many other factors, which could be also important to tackle the economic crises, besides for monetary and fiscal policy. Thus, the paper will analyze the fiscal measure packages the countries have approved in order to mitigate the decrease of GDP. Speed, of implementation of the relief package is of the essence, because many good decisions if remain only on paper and awaiting their implementations, or money otherwise is staying on the account of the treasury, not increasing the economic activity and not preserving the jobs. The paper discovers that the road to the Old Normal will be very long and protracted. Few countries will manage to exit the crises soon and to reach the GDP levels of 2019, but unemployment and public debt levels will not reach pre-crises levels in foreseeable future. Therefore, in conclusion, as the novelty the paper will sum up all outstanding crucial elements and issues attributed to the so-called policy mix or recipe for the COVID-19 like and other crises, in order to avoid dramatic fall in the output levels, huge increase of the outstanding public debt and budget deficit level increases in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]