So Your State Is Reopening. Should You Go In Public Or Stay Home?
As some places approach their third month of lockdown, we’ll check back in with a quarantine researcher about what’s working and what isn’t.
Guests
Rebecca Katz, director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center. She’s researched quarantines for the past 10 years, and teaches courses on global health diplomacy, global health security and emerging infectious diseases in the School of Foreign Service. (@RebeccaKatz5)
Isaac Stanley-Becker, Washington Post national political reporter. (@isaacstanbecker)
Anna Bensted, On Point correspondent and reporter. Former executive producer of Inside Out documentaries for WBUR.
Learn More
To hear more about how Italy is unwinding from a lockdown, visit Il Fiesolano.
From The Reading List
Washington Post: “States rushing to reopen are likely making a deadly error, coronavirus models and experts warn” — “By the end of the week, residents in Georgia will be able to get their hair permed and nails done. By Monday, they will be cleared for action flicks at the cineplex and burgers at their favorite greasy spoon.”
Reuters: “Despite scattered protests, most Americans support shelter-in-place, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows” — “A bipartisan majority of Americans said they want to continue to shelter in place to protect themselves from the coronavirus, despite the impact to the economy, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll that also showed a decline in approval of Trump’s response to the pandemic.”
Washington Post: “Gov. Brian Kemp sets Georgia on aggressive course to reopen, putting his state at center of deepening national debate” — “Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s move Monday to lift restrictions on a wide range of businesses, one of the most aggressive moves yet to reignite commercial activity in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, put his state at the center of a deepening national battle over whether Americans are ready to risk exacerbating the public health crisis to revive the shattered economy.”
The Lancet: “Answering the right questions for policymakers on COVID-19” — “Effectively translating science into both operational and policy action is a nearly universal challenge;1, 2 in an emergency, aligning the interests of scientists and policy makers can be especially difficult. In an effort to minimise uncertainty and harness existing knowledge, scientists often focus on predictive problems that are broad in scale with quantifiable uncertainty; more often than not, this approach can leave policy makers without clear answers for high-consequence decisions that have to be made quickly, regardless of the available evidence base.”
New York Times: “The Coronavirus in America: The Year Ahead” — “The coronavirus is spreading from America’s biggest cities to its suburbs, and has begun encroaching on the nation’s rural regions. The virus is believed to have infected millions of citizens and has killed more than 34,000.”
NPR: “The Timeline Of Lifting Social Distancing Depends On Ramping Up Testing” — “Public health experts say we do not have enough data yet to determine when social distancing recommendations can be lifted. Many say the President’s Easter timeline is not based on science.”
New York Times: “The Quiet Hand of Conservative Groups in the Anti-Lockdown Protests” — “An informal coalition of influential conservative leaders and groups, some with close connections to the White House, has been quietly working to nurture protests and apply political and legal pressure to overturn state and local orders intended to stop the spread of the coronavirus.”
Washington Post: “The anti-quarantine protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes, a powerful network is helping.” — “The ads on Facebook sounded populist and passionate: ‘The people are rising up against these insane shutdowns,’ they said. ‘We’re fighting back to demand that our elected officials reopen America.'”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org. [Copyright 2020 NPR]
