Have a little empathy for the people in elected office as they fret over possible answers to the question we’re all asking: “Is it safe to go outside yet?”
The conversation of the week centers on the economy — on which businesses can restart and which people can get back to work. But this isn’t just about commerce. Other conversations lurk behind that one, and have more to do with people than with businesses and other institutions: When is it really safe to stand in lines for this and for that, for groceries or hardware or movies or voting? When will it be safe to go back to school? Should parents send their children back to school before a vaccine has been found and proven?
The answers are hard. The consequences are enormous. And public officials are flummoxed.
