There’s a Right Way to Open America. This Isn’t it.
On March 23, my aunt back home in Texas was sending me concerned text messages. “Just get your butt over here,” she wrote. New York City, where I live, had become the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., and she wanted me home safe where the virus hadn’t yet taken complete hold.
Now it is May 14, and I’m glad I didn’t leave. Texas is among the 17 states that have started to reopen without meeting the key metrics put forth by the White House—which themselves are a watered-down version of what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had recommended—writes TIME’s nation editor Haley Sweetland Edwards in this week’s magazine cover story. Unlike in countries like Germany or South Korea, a national reopening plan for the U.S. isn’t coming from the top. Instead, 50 U.S. governors are making the decisions for their states, and one can only hope that they make the safest call.
So much of what has happened in the U.S. has pitted two crises against each other: economic collapse and a public health disaster that has already led to more than 84,000 deaths. But it didn’t have to be this way: data show that rapid responses in many countries helped limit the impact COVID-19 had on their populations.
There is a clear way forward for America based on learnings from countries that have responded differently, and more successfully, to the virus, Edwards writes, but the U.S. so far seems to not be absorbing those lessons. The U.S. hasn’t created an advanced contact-tracing program like South Korea has, for example, and is behind on testing. And in Germany, reopening plans are far more detailed compared to the U.S. Though cases have started to increase in Germany, the country has an emergency plan to reimplement restrictions if cases increase to 50 per 100,000 people within the course of seven days. The U.S. doesn’t have such a plan.
“We went into this [story] thinking ‘is this endemic to our country? Is it something about our federalized system? Our value of civil liberties?’” Edwards says. “Or is it something different?” In her reporting, Edwards learned the answer is wide-ranging, but that much of the blame rests with decisions made by the current White House Administration.
More than 4.3 million people around the world had been sickened by COVID-19 as of 8 PM eastern time last night, and more than 297,000 had died.
Here is every country with over 40,000 confirmed cases:
The United Nations and the World Health Organization today issued a statement urging for an increase in investment towards mental health resources. A rise in rates of depression and anxiety have been reported throughout the world since the start of the pandemic, the agencies say. Most at risk are frontline workers and children and adolescents, among other vulnerable groups.
Insurance market Lloyd’s of London warned today that the pandemic will cost insurers across the industry more than $200 billion. Lloyd’s said that it alone will already pay out between $3 billion and $4.3 billion to insurance companies as a result of the impacts of COVID-19.
Yesterday, the CEO of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi said in a Bloomberg interview that if his firm developed a successful COVID-19 vaccine, the U.S. would get it before any other country. Today, however, the company backtracked, saying that all countries will have access to a vaccine whenever it is ready. “Equal access for all to vaccine is not negotiable,” wrote French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Twitter this morning.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has set aside billions of dollars to help with the financial impact of postponing the Tokyo games, the IOC announced today. It anticipates up to $800 million in costs associated with the postponement.
Meanwhile, New Zealand has further eased restrictions, allowing friends and family to reunite in groups of 10 or less. Most businesses have reopened. For three consecutive days, the country has reported zero new cases of COVID-19.
The Situation in the United States
The total number of COVID-19 diagnoses in the U.S. rose to more than 1,390,000 as of 8 PM eastern time yesterday, and the death toll surpassed 84,000.
Today’s jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor shows nearly 3 million people applied for unemployment last week. The good news: weekly unemployment claims have fallen for six straight weeks. The bad news: the total number of unemployment claims filed since the COVID-19 outbreak began is now more than 36 million.
Yesterday evening, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to strike down Governor Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order, essentially reopening the state. Businesses, including bars and taverns, can reopen, and people can travel as they like. Schools, however, can remain closed, and individual jurisdictions can decide to maintain restrictions. “Today, Republican legislators convinced four members of the state Supreme Court to throw the state into chaos,” Evers said on a conference call last night. “They have provided no plan. There’s no question among anybody that people are going to get sick. Republicans own that chaos.”
President Trump praised the decision on Twitter this morning, saying the state “was just given another win. Its Democrat Governor was forced by the courts to let the State Open. The people want to get on with their lives. The place is bustling!” Trump also told reporters at the White House this morning that schools should “absolutely” reopen, despite testimony on Tuesday by Dr. Anthony Fauci cautioning against opening schools too soon. “We don’t know everything about this virus and we really better be pretty careful, particularly when it comes to children,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a Senate committee on Tuesday.
Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee today, whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright said that the U.S. does not have a plan in place yet to properly distribute a vaccine if and when one is approved. Bright was removed from his position as the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority at the Department of Health and Human Services on April 21. “Without clear planning and implementation of the steps that I and other experts have outlined, 2020 will be the darkest winter in modern history,” he wrote in his testimony.
All numbers are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of May 13, 8 PM eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
Heath Terry of Goldman Sachs Research introduces a new tracker that gauges the progress of reopening the U.S. across a range of consumer and business segments in this episode of The Daily Check-In.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
High School Seniors Are Graduating Online, at Drive-Ins and on Racetracks
“This is making lemonade out of lemons. It’s dancing in the rain. It’s celebrating our successes, even with what the world is facing now,” says one school principal. Read more here.
How China Could Emerge Even Stronger After COVID-19
Shanghai Disneyland has reopened for business, operating at 30% capacity, writes TIME East Asia correspondent Charlie Campbell. How well China succeeds in reopening its economy could have ramifications for the entire world order. Read more here.
This Business’s Struggle for a Coronavirus Loan Reveals the PPP’s Pitfalls
A rare book dealer in Manhattan has tried to apply for an emergency loan through the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program. But the journey has been fraught with scammers and misleading websites. Read more here.
How to Find Emergency Money—and Avoid Tax Problems in the Future
It’s hard to think long-term during a financial crisis, but it’s important to keep taxes in mind while making big financial decisions. Here’s what to know about taxes and filing for unemployment, dipping into retirement, and borrowing money from loved ones. Read more here.
We Need the World Health Organization, Despite Its Flaws
The U.S. is pulling back on WHO funding, leaving room for China to step in. “A Chinese version of the WHO would not allow the transparency that the world needs from such an organization,” writes Ian Bremmer, TIME foreign affairs columnist and president of Eurasia Group. Read more here.
South Korea’s Nightclub Outbreak Shines an Unwelcome Light on the LGBTQ Community
Seoul’s Itaewon district known as Homo Hill was once a bustling haven for the country’s LGBTQ community. Now it’s quiet after 130 cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the neighborhood—sparking a surge in homophobia, activists say. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com.
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Today’s newsletter was written byJasmine Aguilera and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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