One of my ongoing complaints in this crisis has been the extent to which state health departments have had to mostly go their own way in determining how to move out of a shutdown state and get people back to business and school and life. This is something that I’ve always felt would be a clear role for the CDC, to have a clean set of guidance and then help states and counties track their movement through each phase of re-opening.
Honestly though, when it comes to being "people making their own risk determinations and balancing the risks against the benefits," there's much more political attention given to restricting people making "bad," or at least riskier, decisions, and not enough attention to the other side: enabling or subsidizing making safe decisions. Suspending library fines, suspending in-person school attendance, limiting rent obligations, the Trump Bucks, and suchlike are good moves, but as things reopen, these concessions are going to go away along with the restrictions that chafe so many. If that happened, it would not only merely allow the riskier behaviors we restricted, but actually *incentivizing* them somewhat.
For example, if I'm someone very concerned about the disease, I can choose to stay home all summer as long as I have nothing compelling me to leave.. but if schools open up and rent gets collected again, I'm going to have to send my kids to school and return to work AGAINST my better judgement, because I'll be punished by the state otherwise.
Politicians tend to resort to blanket restrictions and bans, maybe because it reads easier, but then forget the carrot works too. Maybe better, depending on the situation.
Honestly though, when it comes to being "people making their own risk determinations and balancing the risks against the benefits," there's much more political attention given to restricting people making "bad," or at least riskier, decisions, and not enough attention to the other side: enabling or subsidizing making safe decisions. Suspending library fines, suspending in-person school attendance, limiting rent obligations, the Trump Bucks, and suchlike are good moves, but as things reopen, these concessions are going to go away along with the restrictions that chafe so many. If that happened, it would not only merely allow the riskier behaviors we restricted, but actually *incentivizing* them somewhat.
For example, if I'm someone very concerned about the disease, I can choose to stay home all summer as long as I have nothing compelling me to leave.. but if schools open up and rent gets collected again, I'm going to have to send my kids to school and return to work AGAINST my better judgement, because I'll be punished by the state otherwise.
Politicians tend to resort to blanket restrictions and bans, maybe because it reads easier, but then forget the carrot works too. Maybe better, depending on the situation.