Progressives, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have called for moratoriums on rent and other financial obligations. And even conservatives, despite concern about government initiatives already costlier than those in the 2008-9 financial crisis, have said this is a case where it makes sense to provide grants — not merely loans — to individuals and businesses.

Michael R. Strain, director of economic policy studies at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said that corporations might be able to afford to take on extra debt to carry them through a period of lost revenue, but that most small businesses, particularly in the service sector, could not.

“A manufacturing company could come back to a backlog of orders, but if you’re a services business, you’ve just lost this revenue,” he said. “People are not going to go out to eat six times as often when this is over.”

If businesses have to take on huge debt burdens to survive the crisis, Mr. Strain said, “that situation leads to a much more prolonged downturn.”

For workers, weathering more than a few weeks without pay may be a challenge. The 11-year economic expansion left record low unemployment, but it did less to ensure financial stability. The Federal Reserve reported last year that four in 10 Americans would have difficulty covering an unexpected expense of $400.

Cori Aitken, 34, lost one job as a sales representative at Temescal Brewing, a small brewery in Oakland, Calif., and another job tending bar. Now she’s looking to cut her $1,900 monthly expense budget, which includes about $1,000 in rent and $300 for utilities, along with a phone bill, car insurance and loan payments.