Part of the Series
Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
A number of protests across the country took place over the weekend, in which participants argued against stay-in-place orders meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and in favor of “reopening the economy” as pushed by President Donald Trump.
Such calls for a quick “reopening” contradict what health experts have said is feasible at this time, particularly because there aren’t enough testing kits across the nation to determine which states are able to move in that direction.
Asked on Monday morning about the issue of ending stay-in-place orders, Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, suggested that even if social distancing standards were relaxed, it wouldn’t restore the health of the economy as some protesters have implied it would.
Asked by “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos to respond to the protests, Fauci tried to show sympathy for their cause while also noting how their goals couldn’t be achieved without controlling the virus first.
“The message is that clearly this is something that is hurting, from the standpoint of economics and the standpoint of things that have nothing to do with the virus. But unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not going to happen,” Fauci said.
NEW: Reopening the country too soon could backfire and cause a spike in cases and deaths, says Dr. Anthony Fauci on @GMA pic.twitter.com/PFNW4t2AIo #COVID19 #coronavirus
— Steve Grzanich (@SteveGrzanich) April 20, 2020
“Reopening the economy” came with risks, Fauci said, and little possibility of big rewards.
“If you jump the gun, and you go into a situation where you have a big spike, you’re going to set yourself back,” Fauci explained. “So as painful as it is to go by the careful guidelines of gradually phasing into a reopening, it’s going to backfire if you don’t.”
The push to end stay-in-place orders issued out by most state governors is one that has the apparent approval of the Trump administration — Trump himself urged several citizens last week to “liberate” their states from such orders, in defiance of his own recommendations on how to transition — but it’s a cause that even a number of economists say isn’t a good idea to pursue.
New York Times opinion columnist Paul Krugman wrote last week that economists tend to listen to experts from other fields of study rather than rely on their own instincts alone.
“Serious economists know what they don’t know — they recognize and respect experts from other disciplines,” he wrote, adding that, in his opinion, the push to “reopen” the economy is coming from “cranks and cronies.”
Trump may in fact be motivated by other factors, including political ones, in his push to end stay-in-place orders. Sources with knowledge of the president’s thoughts and conversations in recent weeks have described how Trump is eager to “reopen” things in order to still appear strong politically on the issue of the economy in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
But Americans overall are skeptical about prematurely ending stay-in-place orders. According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 58 percent of Americans are concerned that efforts to “reopen the economy” might be too fast, while only 32 percent believe the opposite, that efforts to do so may be too slow in coming about.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy