Haphazard Reopening Risks Public Health and Economy
A stop-go-stop pattern might work, but it would more likely be a medical and business setback.
Too much pressure leads to mistakes.
Photographer: Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. is polarizing on when and how to reopen its economy. State governments are being pressured to make decisions with a less-than-comprehensive assessment of the trade-offs between public health and the economy, increasing the probability of a stop-go-stop pattern that, if we are incredibly lucky, could lead to a desirable outcome but also faces the considerable risk of ending up with the worst of both worlds.
Circumstances are pushing most state governments into what economists call corner solutions — that is, extreme positions that, in this particular case, are more pronounced than analytically reasonable.