The U.S. is grappling with the complex tension between efforts to contain COVID-19 on the one hand and efforts to rejuvenate the nation's economy on the other.
There is not much argument about the ultimate importance of either of these goals. The tension arises from competing perspectives on the relative priority each should receive.Public leaders are in the position of attempting to assess scientific and economic data and making complicated projections about the future.
Leaders are trepidatious about loosening mandates in fear that the public will misinterpret or exploit the relaxed standards and move too quickly.
But leaders also run the risk of the public beginning to ignore the mandates if they believe those mandates are misguided or