> Critics are dismayed. Citing forecasts that COVID-19 deaths could rise to 3,000 per day in June, they say that reopening without better defenses against infec

> Critics are dismayed. Citing forecasts that COVID-19 deaths could rise to 3,000 per day in June, they say that reopening without better defenses against infections is reckless. The problem at this point is that there is little evidence that shutting down is improving our defenses. The federal effort is not there. The state efforts are haphazard. Worse, while the shutdown was strong enough to destroy the economy, it was enacted unevenly and poorly enforced so that transmission outside of the NY area has barely dropped at all. Without reducing transmissions significantly, there are simply too many cases and too little infrastructure to trace, test and quarantine. The United States will likely serve as a cautionary tale for the rest of the world for a long time to come.