LDI’s Werner and Grande on Coronavirus and Political Expediency

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The only way to solve the dual problems of a COVID-19 epidemic and a cratering economy is to focus on finding ways to slow and ultimately halt the disease’s spread, write LDI Executive Director Rachel Werner and Policy Director David Grande in a Washington Post article.

The two are among a small army of LDI Senior Fellows who have taken to the general press in recent weeks in an effort to anchor the national debate around COVID-19 to factual evidence and scientifically sound strategies. 

In the Post piece entitled “The Only Way to ‘Reopen the Economy’ is to Stop the Spread of The Coronavirus,” the authors write: 

“Our country is simultaneously facing two unprecedented disasters: a pandemic, the likes of which we haven’t seen in more than a century, and projections for an economic downturn that will rival that of the Great Depression. This has left many people wondering whether we should balance saving lives with saving livelihoods. President Trump recently suggested that we cannot win on both of these fronts and that we need to choose economic health over the public’s health.”

“But that’s a false trade-off. We can address the cause of the economic downturn and also work on behalf of public health — by limiting the spread of the coronavirus.”

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Sounding the same theme on the Background Brief with Ian Masters radio show, Werner said “It’s a rational choice to value the public’s health right now because we can’t have economic stability unless we have a healthy public. So, continuing our measures of social distancing and keeping people home so that we can limit the spread of coronavirus is the only feasible path to strengthening and stabilizing our economy.”