> Of course the “entire” economy wasn’t shut down.

That may seem obvious to you and I. Hence my question.

> But the unemployment rate would have been massively higher than it was had the government not stepped in with loans (essentially grants) to encourage companies to keep people on the payroll through the lockdowns.

Would it? What models showed that, and how much higher is massively?

> There were also many companies that kept workers employee on the payroll despite being essentially shutdown for weeks.

There were many companies that that stayed open.