, Columnist
The U.S. Can Control Covid Without a Second Lockdown
It’s time to come up with a smart, targeted pandemic Plan B.
Outside, masked and distanced = safer.
Photographer: Theo Wargo/Getty Images
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Rising Covid-19 case counts across the U.S. have made a second lockdown seem almost inevitable. It is likely to be months before a vaccine could end the coronavirus pandemic, and the U.S. is also months away from using the testing-and-tracing strategy other countries have used to keep new outbreaks from expanding.
But Americans can’t be expected to stay in their homes for months on end. The rational, fair, humane way forward is for society to balance pandemic safety against other vital needs — the need to make a living, the need for education and the need for social interaction.