Reopening too quickly could lead to a surge in COVID-19 cases, especially due to inaccurate models about the number of cases and businesses shirking proper precautions.
According to Johns Hopkins health officials, the United States is going to need to prepare for a surge of new cases. The CDC said that a winter resurgence of cases could potentially be worse than the current situation.
The surge will most likely be devastating to the hospitals that are already overwhelmed by the current cases. Many hotspots for COVID-19 are lacking the proper staff and equipment to take care of their patients, due to the sheer volume of people that have contracted the virus.
By improperly reopening businesses and public spaces, it could make the situation even worse. As people become less worried about the virus, they take less precautions, and the less precautions they take, the easier transmission is.
According to WJAC 6, Governor Tom Wolf has implemented guidelines for businesses to reopen, and businesses who do not follow guidelines can be reported. However, this does not prevent businesses from shirking their responsibilities, since they are only being monitored by the public, not the government.
Many businesses are easy places for the virus to be transmitted, since it stays on surfaces. If employees or patrons are not wearing proper coverings and they are asymptomatic carriers, the disease can be on surfaces and spread quickly.
If states reopen before they are supposed to, then asymptomatic carriers can become even more of a problem. People who do not show symptoms have no reason to believe that they are sick, so they do not stay in their home or practice self isolation.
The number of cases per day in the United States is no longer growing, but it has barely dropped. Until there is a significant drop in cases per day, a near complete reopening should be out of the question.
Other countries have waited for the significant drop in cases per day before reopening. China waited for a 14 day period with zero new cases before reopening Wuhan and Nanjing.
Also, most of the American public has not been exposed to the disease, and if the proper precautions are not taken, then there is the possibility of a much worse outbreak.
Without the proper testing numbers, it is also difficult to gauge how many people actually have the virus. The Trump Administration promised 27 million tests for Americans by the end of March, but as of the end of April only 4 million were conducted. The lack of tests is dangerous, especially given that a percentage of the tests are flawed.
According to The Washington Post, the earliest reopenings will be chaotic and risky. Georgia is reopening tanning salons, barber shops, massage parlors and bowling alleys, but according to some models they should be one of the final states to reopen.
Early reopenings pose a great threat to Americans by potentially starting off a much worse surge of COVID-19.