There are 4 requirements for reopening the U.S. amid COVID-19. Americans won't tolerate all of them.

A sign in Hollywood promoting social distancing
(Image credit: Apu Gomes/AFP/Getty Images)

The White House has proposed a list of "preparedness responsiblities" for lifting social distancing rules enacted to slow spread the COVID-19 coronavirus. States should be able to test for the coronavirus, contact trace, and ensure hospitals have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) and ICU capacity for when the virus flares up again. Individuals should wear face masks when they can't keep six feet apart in public.

Testing, tracing and isolating, hospital readiness, and masks are the four main pillars of reopening, dozens of scientists, public health experts, and disease historians told The New York Times and ProPublica, but the White House is seriously lowballing the amount of testing needed and skimming over some difficult choices America must make. Keeping the economy locked down isn't sustainable, but "the White House's 'phased' plan for reopening will surely raise the death toll no matter how carefully it is executed," Donald McNeil Jr. writes at the Times. "The best hope is that fatalities can be held to a minimum."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.