A while back I wrote about two kinds of fear COVID-19 has caused: The healthy fear that serves to keep us safe and what FDR called the “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror” that only serves to make things worse.

Now I find two other kinds of fear have emerged and have started to dominate our thinking.

As the weeks have passed, our national resolve seems to be crumbling before our eyes. We are not united in our attitudes and actions. We are divided by these two new fears.

Many of us have paid only lip-service to the new rules that are supposed to keep us safe. Parking lots are full and traffic seems almost as heavy as it was prior to all this. For every one who is staying home, it seems like another is going about his/her business pretty much as normal.

There are protests at state capitols to fully re-open the economy. Georgia and South Carolina are set to do just that Friday while urging citizens to (wink, wink) maintain the social distancing that has neither been consistently followed an even less enforced.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves is expected to announce by Friday whether he’ll extend the state’s pseudo shelter in place order, which is set to expire Monday morning.

While some citizens are abiding by both the spirit and letter of these restrictions, for many others the attitude has been, “OK, I’ll do it provided, A. It’s not inconvenient and B. I don’t forget it.”

Remember the expression, “Avoid it like the plague?” There are far too many of us who are avoiding it like it was ice cream, even though the plague in this case is literally true.

Those are the irresponsible among us, the people you see at those capitol protests — selfish, arrogant, politically super-charged. There is nothing that can be done about them. They are beyond the reach of reason.

But among rational people, it’s a battle of those two emerging fears — both legitimate.

One is the fear of COVID-19 itself and all of its terrible implications, including death.

The other is the fear of financial ruin. For some, it is not a question of politics or preference. It’s existential.

Yet if we move too quickly in “opening America,” we are gambling with peoples’ lives. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services models predict that without continued (and real) social distancing, the death toll in the U.S. from COVID-19 ranges from 302,000 to 1,811,000. That’s an enormous risk.

Then, consider: According to the Pew Research Center, 53 percent of low-income citizens say they will not have enough money to pay all of their bills this month.

We are already realizing that our economy was not nearly as strong as Wall Street suggested going into 2020. Just 23 percent of Americans now believe the economy was in good shape BEFORE the virus arrived here, according to Pew polling. Be honest: How many of us are materially better prepared for a prolonged loss of income than we were before what President Trump has called “The best economy in history?” Relatively few, is my guess.

So it’s become a pick your poison proposition, hasn’t it?

A prolonged shutdown will mean a surge in serious financial hardship. If poor folks can’t pay April’s bills, where will they be in May or June? Those who can pay their bills now may not be able to do so in June or July. In a few months, there may be a lot more poor people out there. Maybe you. Maybe someone you know, a friend or family member.

As you ponder that, remember those DHHS numbers — up to 1,811,000 deaths. What kind of people would say that’s acceptable if it can be avoided? What sacrifice is too great to prevent so much death?

I’m afraid I know where we are headed.

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, advocating for a quick re-opening of the economy, said “there are things worse than death.”

Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman, also arguing to re-open the economy, said of the severe health threats associated with opening the economy, “We’ll find out the facts afterward.”

You can see where this is headed. America will “open” and probably far too soon.

We will survive — aside from maybe 2 million or so of us — and avoid financial peril.

Yet Scripture asks: “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

Put another way: What kind of people will we be?

There is no easy choice. But there is a moral one.

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].