Verified by 
The coronavirus crisis has challenged us both as a nation and individually. Grocery shopping has become a major undertaking. Where should I go to shop? What time should I go? How much should I buy? How do I decontaminate what I bring home? Will they be out of disinfectant and toilet paper? The questions go on and on.
This is what we face just going shopping. How about the bigger questions? My boss has decided to reopen. Do I returned to work now? Do I feel comfortable going back? What will happen to us if I don't go back? Can I find a different job?
These are all questions we must find answers to. And things get even more complicated when we don't know what news source to trust. The CDC was at one time the gold standard for answers to many of these questions, but it has fallen silent. Can you trust your governor, your state CDC, your health department, or your president? Where do you get good information? Unfortunately, it varies from one state to the next and from one community to the next.
What do we do with science? Do we listen to the scientists or ignore them? Who do we listen to? I would encourage you to listen to the scientists and physicians and not the politicians. Reopening should not be a political issue. New York State has developed a reopening plan based on science. I would encourage you to take a look at it. It should serve as a model for other states and communities.
Supporting the physicians and the scientists can get us out of the mess that we are presently in. For example, they can offer simple explanations as to why so many have died. A recent study, I believe by Columbia, estimated 36,000 lives could have been saved if a national stay-at-home order had been issued a week earlier. How important is a week? Trump called this report fake news. It was not. When the infection rate is doubling each day, a day or a week can save or cost lives.
A mathematician gave me an example of why this is so. He compared the nation to a pond of water that is invaded by a lily pad which reproduces and thus doubles each day. So on Day One there is one. On Day Two there are two. And on Day Three there are four. On Day 30 the entire pond is covered with lilies. The question to answer is on what day would half of the pond have been covered with lilies. The answer is day 29. When would 1/4 of the pond have been covered with lilies? The answer is day 28. Science has answers to the questions that we are asking. We need to listen.
