Prioritize COVID Containment

there can be No resolution of the economic crisis without first tackling the health crisis that caused businesses to shut down in the first place, Mitchell believes. An expert on pensions and retirement whose work typically requires taking a long view, Mitchell wants the next president to focus instead on the here and now. The top priority, she says: “Take seriously the job of halting the coronavirus.” For Mitchell, that means testing and contract tracing on a massive scale, continuing to promote self-quarantining and masks, leaving the scientists alone who are trying to develop a vaccine and fostering the creation of a national vaccine delivery system. That, she says, “would go a long way toward jumpstarting the economy, though some additional stimulus payments are clearly needed for the next year or so.”