Re: Prediction - America will suffer a shit storm
Not going to the hospital to get tested because you can't afford it is a bit ... silly. They'll do the tests and send you a bill. If you're too poor to pay it, more often than not, for critical things (such as this) the county/state pays for it. This is why even with a few cases of COVID-19, most states have declared an emergency of sorts, that allows more funding to become available.
The sick days thing, yeah that is a huge problem. Where I work we have to use our vacation time to cover sick leave or risk losing our job. We've brought up the 14 day quarantine with HR and they're "looking in to it." We do have unemployment benefits if your hours are reduced at work, such as a 14 day quarantine would do.
Let's look back at how my government (under Obama's care) responded to another outbreak: the 2009 swine flu. The response then was slower than the current response, and in four months there were 25,000 cases. We ended up with about 12,000 fatalities from it in a year's time. To be fare, this outbreak began much closer to home.
Most of the public has been aware of this risk from the get go. With so many gatherings, events, etc, being cancelled right now, and the months of media alarm sounding, I would say the biggest threat are the meatheads who were downplaying the seriousness of it. I see this all the time on social media, some tool claiming the seasonal flu is more dangerous, blah blah blah. Right now, the majority of Americans are not at an elevated risk for becoming exposed to this. We'll see how long that remains true.