President Donald Trump said he now treats his response to the coronavirus pandemic as if he's a wartime president.
But there are multiple ways to fight a war, so which path should the U.S. take: open war, or a surgical strike?
This is the question David Katz posed in a recent piece for "The New York Times," and on Monday he joined Boston Public Radio to explain why he's advocating for a surgical approach, even as the situation on the ground changes rapidly.
Katz, a specialist in preventive medicine and public health, said the nation may have made some early mistakes in its response, by sending young people who are potential inadvertent carriers of the disease, back home to live with their parents or elders, who are at a significantly higher risk of getting seriously ill. But, those mistakes don't have to be repeated as the country starts to look forward to reopening the economy.
"Even now, with everybody in lockdown, the question is, can we identify a major portion of the population that we can invite back out in the world sooner rather than later because they are extremely unlikely to get severe infection, need a hospital bed, or die," he said. "And can we potentially do a better job protecting older parents, grandparents, people with chronic illness, because we direct all of these limited resources to them."
Katz is president of True Health Initiative, and founder and CEO of
Diet ID.
