What makes me pessimistic over time is that there is fatigue with this pandemic, which can make people lapse into a narrative of “It’s those communities. I can get it under control, so what’s the problem?”

The reality is that we when our rural counties get overloaded, they airlift the patients to the other counties. We’re all taking care of patients from these counties. And the agricultural sector is an important part of our economy. If it falls through, it’s going to be something we all pay for.

How would you talk to someone who’s trying to navigate risk in their own life?

One of the things that I hear from epidemiology colleagues is one of the best things that departments of public health can do is just really go deep. Like in the last hundred cases — how did people get it?

I think we should be communicating to people so they can start to make decisions themselves, as opposed to just closing big sectors of life — that’s the mind-set we have to be in rather than, “All bars and dining are bad,” or “I can’t get together with anyone.”

The way I think about it is those enclosed, close-contact environments, and especially when you’re with many other people, are always riskier environments. And if you’re doing an activity that requires you to take that mask off, that is a thing that raises the risk.

Do you think some of these essential sectors have the potential to get it right — to be models for how to keep people safe inside?

I think that’s exactly right. You’re going to need some enforcement, because there are clearly bad actors.

Source: New York Times

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