Strict hygiene rules may be necessary before economy reopens

How to reopen the economy before a vaccine and do it successfully may involve applying strict hospital safety protocols to every business, among other approaches.

MD Dr. Gordon Cohen joined Seattle’s Morning News to explain.

“If we think back to 9/11 and following 9/11 our airport security changed and at first we thought it was outrageous, and now we’re used to it. We don’t even think twice about it. I think that this is going to be much the same way,” he said.

“There needs to be, in my opinion, a lot of significant change that is going to seem very restrictive and uncomfortable and even outrageous at first. But I think eventually we’ll get used to it. The risk is always there as long as there’s not a treatment for the disease or a vaccine for the disease.”

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Without widespread treatment, a vaccine, and enough testing, society will have to become even more hygienic.

“We need to think about having everybody wear masks … if we’re all wearing masks, then that risk is reduced. I think that we’re going to have to have a whole new level of hygiene in our society.”

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“Think about the number of times you’re in a restaurant and you sat down to watch somebody wipe the table with a cloth they probably used 100 different times. We’ve all run that through our mind like, ‘Where’s that cloth been before?’ I think we’re gonna need to start thinking about every single table having sterile wipes on it, or we’re going to have to think about like when you go to the doctor’s office, they have paper across the exam table.”

Treating every building like a hospital

What about the idea of taking a temperature check of everybody who enters a restaurant or or an office building?

“Every single person that walks into the hospital has to have their temperature taken when they walk in the door, we have to gel our hands, and then we have to put a mask on, and I can see that sort of mentality as well in other settings,” Dr. Cohen said.

As Dave noted, it’s pretty clear that’s what’s going to define society reopening is not simply some politicians saying the economy is open, it’s also whether the people trust that whoever they’re going to be sitting near in a restaurant or stadium aren’t sick.

“I’d be willing to wear a mask all the time when I’m out in public, because if everybody else was doing it and we were wearing gloves and had enough hand sanitizer so that we could use proper hygiene, then I think we could probably safely reopen the economy and minimize the number of people who are getting infected.”

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