When to give the all clear should be decided by medical experts, not politicians

We all wish this would be over soon. Unfortunately, wishing doesn’t make it so. If it did, this pandemic would have been over on day one. We all want to return to our normal lives, to socialize, to go out to eat, even to go to work. But it seems clear we are in this for the long haul. That isn’t stopping President Trump from targeting Easter as the date for opening up the country again. He isn’t happy with what the outbreak has done to the economy, and thinks its time to put people back to work. The current self-isolation guidelines will expire next week, and Trump has hinted he may not extend them. While Easter may be a time of great renewal, and it would be wonderful if people weren’t still getting sick and dying from the coronavirus by then, that’s not what health experts are saying. The virus hasn’t even peaked yet. Allowing people to return to their normal lives in the midst of a pandemic is only going to set us back further in our efforts to end this virus, or at least find a vaccine. We must maintain social distancing and practice isolation. Let’s leave it to the real experts to tell us when to give the all clear. That decision should be made for purposes of public health, not the stock market.