Thread by @Peoples_Pundit

1. All good points.

But none of them address the unavoidable truth that we cannot fight any public health crisis if our economy collapses.

The ONLY choice is to change behavior, learn how to live with this pandemic and any threat from new pathogens.

If we can't, then we fail.

https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/status/1242282560106958854

2. The thread I'm responding to represents one of two prevailing schools of thought right now. One says shut everything down B/C infection risk is too great. The other says open up B/C economic risk is too great.

They both, though one more than the other, are narrow in thinking.

3. That is at least in part why I do agree with @NYGovCuomo and his call for @realDonaldTrump to exercise the Defense Production Act (DPA).

NY's need is already too much for volunteerism. But I'm talking about MASS PRODUCTION to outfit the workforce.

We MUST get back to work.

4. We can get back to work by making slight modifications to our behavior to minimize infection risks. But we absolutely need @realDonaldTrump to pull the trigger on the Defense Production Act.

He needs to retool sectors to outfit the workforce to operate under the new normal.

5. Yes, yes. I get @BarackObama and @JoeBiden failed to replenish the stockpile of N95 masks.

Looking backward is loser think.

We need @realDonaldTrump to pull the trigger on the DPA, retool these sectors, boost manufacturing and outfit the labor force to work amid pathogens.

6. If we cannot do this, if we allow one of the two schools of thought to dominate decision-making, then we will suffer one severe, prolonged crisis or the other, or God Forbid, both.

@NYGovCuomo is right about this: We DO NOT have to choose between the two.

Pull the trigger.