May 25, 2020

May 25, 2020

We all know people who peddle the idea that we just have to open the economy, without limitation, because public health restrictions are too painful and they don’t work anyway. When I encounter those people, I mention the example of  New York’s phenomenal turnaround. Gov. Cuomo followed the advice of public health experts and engineered a stunning recovery. There are other states, like Ohio, that can boast of similar progress.

Then, there is Alabama. Today, our state reported a record 508 new cases and rising. That is more than the total cases reported by Italy today. More than Spain. More than France. More than Germany. Each of those countries has a population between 46 million and 63 million. Alabama’s population is 4.9 million.

Italy, Spain, France and Germany are different from South Korea, which had the foresight to take decisive action to head off the virus before community spread began. Instead, these democratic countries made difficult political decisions based on science after community spread took root. They now seem to have the virus under control and are opening up their economies.

It’s not too late to make progress. It just takes leadership. For the 12th consecutive day (13 out of 14), our state has reported over 300 daily new cases. Below are the reported new cases in Alabama for the last 14 days:

5/12 - 305

5/13 - 256

5/14. - 343

5/15 - 313

5/16 - 342

5/17 - 311

5/18 - 304

5/19 - 388

5/20 - 359

5/21 - 406

5/22 - 369

5/23 - 375

5/24 - 322

5/25 - 508