The US is not done with the coronavirus pandemic, and a Harvard expert says we need to shift the blame game from reopening to fixing our testing and contact tracing system

Associated Press

• After weeks of lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the US is on its way to reopen the economy. However, a number of states have been reporting spikes in new cases throughout the country.
• While the culpability could appear to be on a so-called "rushed reopening," one expert said the blame should instead be placed on the lack of a comprehensive testing and contact tracing system in the US.
• Danielle Allen, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, joined more than 30 other cross-disciplinary experts to co-author detailed guidance, titled "Pandemic Resilience: Getting It Done," on the necessary levels of testing and tracing to safely reopen communities.
• Allen told Business Insider that the US' approach to slow the spread instead of suppressing cases entirely could be at fault for the spikes in cases.
• "Most states have reopened with a mitigation strategy in place rather than a suppression strategy," she said, "and our view is that this is a mistake because it does not provide a sufficiently secure foundation for full opening and fully stable opening."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

States across the US are on the path to reopening their economies after months of a patchwork of "stay-at-home" orders put in place to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The White House released a set of criteria that states are recommended to meet before reopening. As of Friday, only seven states have met all of the criteria, according to a ProPublica analysis.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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See Also:

• One chart shows what percentage of COVID-19 tests are coming back positive in the US compared to 12 other countries
• A study quantifies the trade-off between danger and necessity when reopening businesses. It found that gyms should be last priority.
• Scientists predicted that the coronavirus death rate would fall over time, but instead it doubled. Here's why it now hovers at 6%.

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