As We Start to Reopen the Economy, We Must Be More Careful and More Responsible

Dr. Scott Gottlieb here and Megan McArdle here talk about what we need to have to be able to reopen the economy.  The main point from both of them is that reopening isn’t going to happen as soon as one would hope, as fast as one would hope, or as broadly as one would hope (“one” being, among others, Donald Trump).  The key to re-opening successfully, i.e., without a resurgence of the virus, is to do it slowly and carefully. 

The same rules on reopening aren’t going to be able to apply to all areas of the country at the same time because different areas are experiencing the virus differently.  Some things will be able to open faster in some areas.  Some businesses will need to remain closed in other areas.  Sheltering at home may need to be around longer in some places than others.  What we can do, as individuals, is accept these differences.  They may not seem fair, but Covid-19 isn’t fair.  What we need to remember is that the enemy isn’t each other; it’s the virus.  While we would like to open all areas right away, we can’t.  It’s not safe.  So, until we can open all areas safely, all we can do is to open those areas that can be safely opened.

Which leads to this point: My biggest concern is whether we are up to handling this reopening properly.  Do we have the social responsibility to open our economy slowly?  Can we be trusted to go to work without going to bars?  Can we go to parks without hanging around in large groups once we get there?  Are we willing to wear masks not to protect ourselves from getting sick but to protect others from getting sick if we’re sick and don’t know it?

New Zealand is in a different situation than we are, but some of the dilemmas they are facing are similar to ours.  New Zealand has been on a lockdown, stricter than our shelter-at-home orders, what they call an alert level 4, for close to four weeks.  They are now looking to see if they can move to what they call alert level 3, the next step down.  This is from The New Zealand Herald on the government’s thinking as they consider what to do next:

“[Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern] pushed back on suggestions that the lockdown had been too severe.

‘We should not confuse the success of our actions with overreaction ….’

She said revealing details of life under alert level 3 was in no way an indication that the lockdown will be lifted from next Thursday.

[L]ooser restrictions at level 3 would likely see half a million more New Zealanders back at work ….

People would still need to restrict contact, Ardern said, including staying clear of public parks.

‘When it comes to public play equipment, I personally know how hard this is.

‘You try taking a two-year-old past some play equipment they can't use.  But we just can't risk one piece of equipment being a vector for transmission.’

[Director General of Health Dr. Ashley] Bloomfield said level 3 required more caution than level 4.

‘If anything, we need to be even more vigilant, because everybody will have potentially more contact with others.’”

This is the key.  As we open up the economy, “we need to be even more vigilant.”  As we start to reopen, instead of thinking that we have beaten this stupid virus and that we can go back to the way things were, we need to actually be more careful than we have been.  We need to consider the risks of what we do even more.  In other words, more freedom means more responsibility.