Noah Feldman, Columnist

A Solution to the Covid-19 Liability Problem

National workplace safety rules would protect employees from coronavirus and employers from lawsuits.

April 27, 2020 at 8:30 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

A barbershop in Oklahoma on Friday, April 24, 2020.
Photographer: Bloomberg

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Whenever we’re ready to re-open Covid-closed businesses, we’ll have to resolve some important questions about how to do so safely. One of them: what kind of measures should businesses take to keep employees and customers safe, and how should business owners be held accountable if they play fast and loose with others’ health?

This debate over limiting liability has just begun, and it’s already taken a partisan turn. That’s unfortunate, because there’s a straightforward middle-ground solution available.