In All Blog Posts, Surveys

For months now, health experts have been advising state and local officials on the safest path to reopening their schools, public spaces and economies. It seems no two plans are exactly alike. In the May 2020 reader poll, participants were asked to play the role of reopening consultant. I was curious to find out how far people would go to stop the disease from spreading. Here are the results:

Analysis: Last month’s Forbes article on the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) advocated against our nation’s one-size-fits-all reopening strategy. It seems most readers agree with that recommendation, opting instead for a more thoughtful approach to reopening schools, reviving the economy and easing social restrictions.

I believe the top three approaches you selected in last month’s survey would achieve the greatest uptick in safety with the least amount of disruption. Masks are excellent at preventing the transmission of a virus that spreads through droplets. They are particularly valuable given the frequency with which asymptomatic people can spread the infection to others (despite what the WHO initially said and then retracted).

Other effective (and less-invasive) solutions include further bans on large gatherings and smartphone notifications for contacts of people who test positive. The other items on this list are highly invasive and difficult to accomplish. Finally, it’s interesting that the medical concerns and the economic ones are almost equal. That seems to be the general feeling of most people.

Thank you for participating. To participate in future surveys, and to get access to timely news and opinion on American healthcare, sign up for my free (and ad-free) newsletter Monthly Musings on American Healthcare.

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Dr. Robert Pearl is the former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, the nation’s largest physician group. He’s the bestselling author of “Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Health Care–And Why We’re Usually Wrong and a Stanford University professor. Follow him on Twitter @RobertPearlMD.

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Showing 2 comments
  • Sheila Bourbonais

    The biggest threat facing the US in dealing with covid 19 and all the future virus coming our way, is a lack of leadership and emergency preparedness at the federal level to coordinate processes for testing, healthcare, supply chain, and economic support going to the right people.

  • Ramona Seidel

    The biggest threat is further polarization: the pitting of public health safety guidelines against safe re-opening of economy Guidelines is senseless. There is no simple red or blue/good or bad/right or wrong solution. Moderation of messaging to make it understood by all and avoiding sensational news bytes that pit us against one another is key!!

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