Safety decisions now rest with individuals in US
Bewildering choices ahead as states ease virus rules piecemeal
Things were so much clearer when just about everything was locked down. Now, with states lifting their coronavirus restrictions piecemeal and according to their own, often arbitrary, timetables, Americans face a bewildering array of decisions about what they should and should not do to protect their health, their livelihoods and their neighbours.
Is it safe now to join the crowds at the beach or eat at a restaurant? To visit the elderly parents you haven’t seen in nearly two months? To reopen a struggling business?
In many cases, the answer from the experts is: It depends.
“There will never be a perfect amount of protection,” said Josh Santarpia, a microbiology expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre who is studying the virus. “It’s a personal risk assessment. Everybody has to decide, person by person, what risk they’re willing to tolerate.”
The quandary comes as the confirmed death toll from coronavirus in the US yesterday surpassed the 58,220 American service members killed in Vietnam, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Jill Faust, 53, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, said she would hesitate to eat at an indoor restaurant when such businesses are allowed to reopen in her community on Saturday.
“We would have to know ahead of time what precautions they’re taking,” she said. Even then, she said, it might not be worth the trouble.
Such decisions will become far more frequent in the coming weeks as officials in Europe and the US move to reopen schools and businesses.
With the crisis easing in many places, France, Spain and Greece were among the latest countries yesterday to announce roadmaps for restarting their economies.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom said schoolchildren could be allowed to return to classrooms as early as July, though a formal decision had not yet been made.
US President Donald Trump signed a measure yesterday ordering meat-processing plants to stay open to prevent shortages. Unions accused the White House of jeopardising lives.
As restrictions loosen, health officials will be watching closely for any sign of a resurgence of the virus.
Yesterday, for example, Germany reported an uptick in the infection rate since some small businesses were allowed to reopen just over a week ago. But it was too soon to say whether the loosening was to blame.
Globally, confirmed infections stood at more than 3 million — including 1 million in the US — and the confirmed global death toll topped 210,000, according to Johns Hopkins.
The true toll is believed to be much higher because of limited testing, differences in counting the dead and government concealment.
In the US, the uncertainty ahead was spotlighted in Georgia as places such as barber shops and tattoo parlours were allowed to reopen.
“In reality we’re under a stay-athome order until April 30,” Savannah mayor Van Johnson said. “Yet you can go get your nails done, you can go get a tattoo, you can go to movie theatres, you can go to bowling alleys.
“It’s those kinds of things that leave people confused.”
Mixed messages are coming from even the US Congress. The House is scrambling for ways for members to work from home after a revolt over convening during the pandemic. The smaller Senate, however, plans to convene at the Capitol.
In Georgia, where Covid-19 has killed at least 1000, many new cases are still being reported. But even in places with fewer known infections, people are facing uneasy choices.
In Omaha, Nebraska, where businesses can reopen next week, teachers Michelle and Mark Aschenbrenner said they are eager to dine out again.
“I think we’re four weeks too early,” Mark said of the plans to lift bans. But “we’ve been stuck at home for seven weeks and we’re going stir crazy.”
With warmer weather enticing more people to venture out in the weeks ahead, it will be up to individuals to exercise caution.
“You can’t swear that if somebody happens to cough on the beach chair to your left and then you have a breeze that blows that over across you, that you don’t have the exposure in that way,” said Dr Marybeth Sexton, infectious-disease specialist at Emory University School of Medicine.
Elsewhere around the world, virus remains a long-term foe. The president of the Japan Medical Association, Yoshitake Yokokura, said he thinks it will be difficult to hold the Tokyo Summer Olympics even in 2021 without an effective vaccine.
In the shorter term, it will be up to individuals as much as policymakers to make the decisions that will help chart the virus’ course.
“I think everyone still needs to use their judgment,” said Chicago infection-control expert Dr Emily Landon. “You can try and make it political, make it about freedom, but it’s a virus. It’s biology. Biology doesn’t negotiate.”