Considering the massive economic damage that has taken place as a result of the pandemic, President Trump is leaning more towards the idea of opening the country back.
With 16 million employees let go in 3 weeks and unemployment levels at such an all-time high that comparisons are being made to the Depression era, Trump thinks some action urgently needs to be taken. He said that according to doctors an ideal solution to end the virus would be to keep everything shut down for as long as it takes.
However, this cannot practically be done to a country that is also the world’s number 1 economy because it would result in bigger problems. The president told reporters that it is completely at his discretion when he wants to open the country but he believes that it will thrive once it gets back to normal.
The president has made it clear that keeping the citizens extremely safe whilst opening things up is his top-most priority. To achieve this he has put together a new task force that will be dedicated to working on this matter and he will also be enforcing state recommended social distancing rules.
There are still huge risks of people contracting and spreading the virus in large numbers but health officials still stress that maintaining good hygiene and practicing social distancing are the best ways of protection. Therefore, the citizens need to abide by these rules until a cure is found or herd immunity is achieved.
Trump has still left the final decision up to the governors of individual States which can make better decisions on what policies to adopt considering their number of cases and deaths. States like Dakota who have had less than 750 cases will have different policies regarding opening up of places as compared to high-risk areas like New York with almost 200,000 cases.
People like George Lowenstein, a university professor, think that the country should not be lifting all lockdowns as the tradeoff between human lives and economic performance does not make sense. However, other professors like John Yoo believe that the frightening mental health implications of keeping the nation locked down should be taken seriously as well.
