The Covid-19 social distancing restrictions have shut down many businesses including virtually the entire sports world. While most Americans are anxious to see this end soon, the Democratic party leadership has decided to make the reopening of America a political football game.

There can be no doubt that America must reopen its economy soon. This week the number of new claims for unemployment reached 22 million Americans. Protests have already begun in some cities, most noticeably Detroit where Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has enforced some of the most draconian measures. This past week thousands drove to Lansing to jam traffic, honk horns and wave posters from car windows, in what the Detroit News called “one of the largest protests at the state Capitol in a decade.” Other states experiencing protests include New York and California.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer clearly see this virus pandemic as a “crisis that should not be wasted.” Initially, they tried to pad the Congressional response for stimulus money, known as the CARES Act, with pork for unrelated Democratic agenda items including the Green New Deal and corporate diversity commitments. Currently they are holding up additional funding for the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), which supplies loan/grants for small businesses affected by the shutdown. The original $350 Billion allocated by Congress has been spent and an additional $250 Billion is being held in limbo by Democrats demanding more state funding while small businesses lay off workers or close their doors.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board says these demands of the Democrats are politically motivated. Congress already provides about a third of all state funding, and the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed out more: $150 billion in direct aid, $260 billion in new unemployment funds, $45 billion for disaster relief, and $30 billion for education. States and their residents are also getting $100 billion for hospitals, $225 billion for public transportation, $8 billion for tribal governments, and a 6.2 percentage point increase in Medicaid. Much of this money hasn’t even gone out the door, yet.

They encouraged President Trump to hold firm on his request for the extra $250 billion for PPP without giving in to the Democratic demands for more state funding. They explain, “Democratic governors in particular won’t take the political risk of restarting their economies against liberal opposition if they know the feds will underwrite the cost of lockdowns. By handing more money to states, Mr. Trump will be giving up the only leverage he has over governors to reopen. He’s also making it less likely ill-governed states will reform their pensions or taxes.”

Kimberley A. Strassel, writing in The Wall Street Journal, accuses Pelosi and Schumer of “moving the goal posts” in this political football game. The initial goal of the shutdown was to “flatten the curve” to make sure there were adequate medical facilities and equipment to handle the viral pandemic demands. The guidelines achieved this purpose, successfully flattening the curve while avoiding any medical rationing that might have occurred with a shortage of hospital beds and respirators.

But now these Democratic leaders want to raise the bar by demanding the president provide “a robust testing and contact tracing system be in place that guarantees Americans a safe reentry into their normal life.”  They want to deny Trump any credit for success by redefining the goal.

Strassel explains, “By these standards, no lockdown may end until the Trump administration can “guarantee” a “safe” world in which people return to “normal.” The feds must stand up a testing system capable of hunting down and snuffing out each new infection. There can be no more outbreaks, and reopening cannot “significantly add” to existing counts (and the press reserves the authority to define “significantly.”) The unsaid corollary is that Mr. Trump will be held politically responsible for reopening in any way that fails to meet these baselines – on the hook for each subsequent death.”

Anyone who understands the nature of viral pandemics realizes that it is impossible to prevent future infections from occurring. It is the natural course of disease that others will become infected. The shutdown never was intended to eliminate the disease, but rather to control the spread in a way that did not overwhelm the medical system. The disease will never be eradicated until an effective vaccine is developed, which will take at least another 12 – 18 months.

This week the Trump administration and Corona Virus Task Force announced Opening Up America Again, their plans to reopen the economy and gradually eliminate the shutdown regulations. In typical Trump fashion, he initially insisted the timing of reopening was his call alone, and not the decision of state governors. But in the actual announcement, Trump laid out the federal guidelines developed by the Task Force and then deferred the timing to the governors alone; a politically astute decision that spreads any blame for failure with the states.

The reopening plan is in three Phases, each requiring eligibility by successfully passing through a “gate.” When a state achieves the required virus statistical mandates of each gate, they can proceed to the next Phase. Each Phase allows a gradual loosening of social distancing, business and travel restrictions as the risk of viral spread diminishes. By Phase Three, states can return to a near normal existence, while maintaining awareness of those good habits that helped slow the spread of the virus in the first place.

Opening Up America Again is the product of the Corona Virus Task Force and was developed with the close cooperation of medical experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Jerome Adams. It is intended to reopen the American economy gradually over time and in accordance with the risk associated with regional and local viral prevalence, thus providing the safest possible return to some semblance of normalcy. It is disappointing in the extreme to see politicians try to take advantage of this important time in our country’s history to score political points.

The primary focus of the nation has rightly been on stopping the spread of the Covid-19 corona virus. Undoubtedly, this has saved lives and we are all grateful for that.

But there is another disaster looming – our nation’s economy. As I write these words, the headline of the Wall Street Journal declares “Millions More File Jobless Claims.” Nearly 17 million Americans have filed for unemployment since this virus pandemic began.

If you’re a medical epidemiology expert, this doesn’t concern you. Your job is to prevent the spread of the virus. But, if you’re an elected government official, especially if you’re President Trump, you’ve got to be concerned about this pending disaster, too.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell put it this way: “People have been asked to put their lives and livelihoods on hold, at significant economic and personal cost. We are moving with alarming speed from 50-year lows in unemployment to what will likely be very high, although temporary, levels.”

We will very soon reach a tipping point when we must decide when to reopen the economy. That decision will have significant consequences – it will impact the safety of some individuals; it will improve the economic situations of many others. It will impact the political future of our country, depending on the success of that decision and its timing. If President Trump makes the right call, it will insure his re-election. If he makes the wrong call, it will usher in a new Democratic administration. The stakes couldn’t be any higher. He recently called this “the biggest decision of my life.” I hope that all Americans, regardless of political party, will pray that the president makes the right call.

Why not just maintain the shutdown indefinitely?

Dr. Joseph Lapado is an associate professor at UCLA School of Medicine. He has written opinion pieces in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. His advice:

“To help set the right course for our country, we must grasp some simple – but tough – facts. The novel corona virus is highly contagious and tragically lethal to many. There is no guarantee of a vaccine within the next 18 months. We have taken measures to slow the virus, but these can’t stop it. The only thing that can stop the virus at this advanced stage of community transmission is a complete lockdown, which can happen in authoritarian countries like China, but not in the U.S.”

“Embracing reality also makes other things clear. If we can’t shut down for 18 months on the gamble that an effective vaccine will arrive, how long will it be worth committing millions of families to poverty and uprooting lives, education and every other part of the economy? Politicians have largely dodged this question.”

The shutdown must end soon if we are to avoid an even greater economic disaster than the viral pandemic we are currently experiencing. A balancing of the needs to maintain viral precautions and social distancing must be weighed against the needs of millions of unemployed Americans. The answer probably lies in a gradual reopening of the economy in areas where the spread of the virus is clearly under control, while emphasizing the importance of clean hands awareness and continuing good habits that will slow the spread of the virus. The most vulnerable citizens should maintain the strictest precautions.

These measures will not stop the spread of the virus, but should make it possible to stay ahead of the demand for medical services, PPEs, ventilators, and other hospital equipment. This will make it possible to provide the best medical care for those who still contract the virus despite taking precautions. As more and more people recover from virus infection, the development of “herd immunity” will slow further spread of the virus. In time, more and more therapeutic measures will be developed to treat the virus until effective vaccines are available in about 12 – 18 months. At that point, the worst of this nightmare will be over.

Now that President Trump has extended the social distancing guidelines through the end of April, it’s time we got used to this new normal. New and faster methods of testing for the virus are being rapidly developed and this certainly will help us make more informed decisions about how to prevent its spread.

But the more important question is how to treat this virus. Fortunately, only about 1% of all those infected will require hospitalization and advanced medical treatment. However, for that one percent, effective treatment is critical, even life-saving.

I happen to live next door to a neurosurgeon who is married to an intensivist – a doctor whose entire practice is taking care of the critically ill in intensive care units. About two weeks ago he told me she was having great results treating those in the ICU with corona virus with a new combination of drugs, hydroxychloroquine (HC) and azithromycin (AZ).  She had found 90% of those on this combination made a recovery and were discharged.

Why are these drugs effective?

HC is a drug that has been around for many years, commonly used to treat malaria and lupus. It has been shown in laboratory tests to block the replication of RNA viruses like Covid-19 Corona Virus in invitro testing. Remarkably, during the initial Chinese outbreak, doctors observed that patients with lupus did not develop Covid-19 infection. In one study, 178 hospital patients tested positive for Covid-19, but none had lupus and none were receiving HC. They then studied 80 patients from the dermatology department with known lupus taking HC and found none were testing positive. They hypothesized that long-term use of HC may be protective for Covid-19 infection.

The idea for using HC in combination with AZ came from a French hospital study. Their study showed that 57% of 14 Covid-19 patients receiving HC without AZ tested negative for the virus on a nasal swab on day six. But 100% of the six patients who received both HC and AZ tested negative on day six. This compared favorably with 16 infected patients from another hospital nearby who didn’t receive these drugs. On day six only 12% were testing negative.

These early results were followed by additional data published last week from the same French authors. An additional 80 hospitalized patients received the combination of HC and AZ. By day eight of treatment, 93% were testing negative for the virus. This paved the way for rapid discharge of patients from the ICU in an average of five days.

In other anecdotal reports, Dr. Zev Zelenko of Monroe, N.Y., has treated over 500 Covid-19 patients with a combination of HC, AZ, and Zinc. Zinc is known to slow viral replication within the cell. All patients were positive for the virus and had shortness of breath symptoms or were in the high-risk categories with mild symptoms. All patients were treated as outpatients with oral medication for five days. He reports No deaths and No hospitalizations. Side effects of the drugs have been limited to occasional nausea and diarrhea.

The beauty of these reports is not just the impressive results seen with HC and AZ, but that these drugs have been in use for other purposes for decades. Zinc is commonly sold OTC for the common cold. Because HC has been in widespread usage for lupus and malaria, and AZ (Z-Pak) for influenza and other respiratory illnesses, they are known drugs with known track records of few side effects. This makes usage of them in new ways less risky. This past week the FDA authorized the usage of both drugs for treatment of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are other drugs being considered for treatment and other combinations in trial usage, but none has shown as much promise as the combination of HC and AZ. They may go a long way toward getting control of this virus, especially for those most vulnerable for respiratory failure.

(For more on these and other drugs being used for Covid-19 treatment, see an article by Jeff Colyer in The Wall Street Journal entitled More Promising Data on a Corona Virus Treatment.)