Right off the top, Trump leads with talking about the economy and economic measures. THAT’S NOT THE MAIN ISSUE RIGHT NOW. The economy is reacting to the lack of progress on addressing the outbreak.
And then Trump and Pence go straight to travel controls. NOT THE MAIN ISSUE NOW. It is here.
And then to pharma innovations - these are all months (therapeutics) or years (vaccines) away. We need to know what is being done the slow the virus NOW. Protect our hospitals NOW.
Community guidance. Good. Late but welcome.
Have not yet said a word about the trajectory of the virus and what to expect domestically. What’s the plan to prevent us from going the way of Italy? Cruise ship is not the core issue.
Focus on gig and hourly workers is good - don’t want economic disincentives to abiding by social distancing.
But this still sounds more like a presser on the economy than a pandemic. Get it exactly backward.
I’m glad they’re issuing guidance on what sounds like micro-level social distancing and behavior change. But still leaves a gap on macro social distancing - event cancellation, etc.
In 1918, the macro social distancing was crucial - Super spreading happened at events like parades.
This is a cart before the horse press conference. The best economic plan is a clear plan to 1) ramp up macro and micro social distancing; 2) urgently reinforce US hospitals 3) target protective measures at high-risk populations.
Which is to say - not something that leads with a plan to stabilize the economy but rather leads with a plan to stabilize the outbreak.
Fauci says, very back-handedly, that it’s not a bad idea to cancel large gatherings.
Overall, this strikes me as a press conference that they could have given 2-3 weeks ago. Touting testing, micro social distancing guidance. Still way behind the curve on visibility of local spread, operational readiness, forward planning. Not where they need to be *today*.
Pence: “the President’s leadership has made the difference here.” This is true - just not in the way he quite means.
Overall, if I’m a mayor, I’m not hearing what I need to do. If I’m a hospital exec, I’m not hearing what I need to do.
If it sounds like I’m frustrated; I am. I want to see them succeed in this fight. We all *need* them to succeed in this fight. And this is a winnable fight. But every day without a clear plan, every day of missing the forest for the trees, this fight become exponentially tougher.
Reissuing borrowed Australian guidance and talking about economic stimulus is not where we need to be when we still don’t have testing up to scale, our hospitals are at risk, social distancing remains modest, and high-risk groups are hugely vulnerable.
I’m seeing comments saying “plenty of people are more worried about economic harm than getting sick.” I totally agree, and that’s a valid fear. But it’s also a cart-before-the-horse problem.
To assuage market reactions to the outbreak, you have to present a viable plan to defeat *the outbreak*. That can and should involve and economic element (and support to gig & hourly workers is important). But the economic is just one element, and not the most crucial one.
The biggest economic risk is not a market drop; it’s multiple American cities starting to look like Northern Italy because we can’t see or contain community spread. That’s the plan we need right now, and the window is closing.
To wit: newyorker.com/news/our-colum… 
