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How will we know when it’s time to reopen the nation (NYT)

Experts offer four benchmarks that can serve as a guide for cities and states, eliminating some of the guesswork.

Everyone wants to know when we are going to be able to leave our homes and reopen the United States. That’s the wrong way to frame it.

The better question is: “How will we know when to reopen the country?”

Any date that is currently being thrown around is just a guess. It’s pulled out of the air.

To this point, Americans have been reacting, often too late, and rarely with data. Most of us are engaging in social distancing because leaders have seen what’s happening in Europe or in New York; they want to avoid getting there; and we don’t have the testing available to know where coronavirus hot spots really are.

Since the virus appears to be everywhere, we have to shut everything down. That’s unlikely to be the way we’ll exit, though.

Some cities or states will recover sooner than others. It’s helpful to have criteria by which cities or states could determine they’re ready. A recent American Enterprise Institute report by Scott Gottlieb, Caitlin Rivers, Mark B. McClellan, Lauren Silvis and Crystal Watson staked out some goal posts…

To read the entire article from The New York Times, click https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/upshot/coronavirus-four-benchmarks-reopening.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-coronavirus-markets&variant=show&region=BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT&context=storyline_faq