Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious
disease expert, warned bluntly Tuesday of
suffering, death and deeper economic damage
if state and local officials lift stay-at-home orders
too quickly.
“My concern is we will start to see little spikes
that might turn into outbreaks,” he told
senators at a hearing. “The consequences could
be really serious.”
In fact, he said opening too soon would cause
“some suffering and death that could be
avoided, but could even set you back on the
road to try to get economic recovery.”
To make the decision even more difficult, there
isn’t a one-size-fits all approach, said George
Rutherford, an epidemiology professor at the
University of California, San Francisco. “It’s like on
one of those calculus problems where you have
two equations with three unknowns,” he said.
Although he doesn’t condone what Musk is
doing, Rutherford conceded it’s possible that
Tesla’s factory could restart without endangering
workers. “You would have to see the layout of the
plant to really know,” he said. “If this were a meat
processing plant, you would say no way they
should be going to work. It’s not as clear here.”
Musk’s fans, who admire how he’s shaken up
the auto business and launched rockets into
space, will love how he resisted authorities, said
Erik Gordon, a business and law professor at the
University of Michigan. Electric car buyers who
aren’t necessarily Musk disciples, however, won’t
have the same opinion.
“They are more in favor of safety and more in
favor of protecting workers,” Gordon said. “The
Image: Ben Margot