I’m a bit confused, when would we be in hard times but not in a recession? During the summer of 2020 we were already in a recession, and in response the stimulu

I’m a bit confused, when would we be in hard times but not in a recession? During the summer of 2020 we were already in a recession, and in response the stimulus and pumping was done. This is on top of the fact that not only are we not able to predict recessions accurately, we usually don’t even know we are in one until we are 3-6 months into it. “It is believed they can”…by who? Other than you of course. The severity of a recession is determined by what is done in the early days of the recession, not before.