We got into this situation because of a model that overestimated the projected infections due to a lack of test data. The government locked us down for the first time ever. Now the testing is available and the updated model indicates the disease is not as bad as originally thought. If they knew then what we know now would they have destroyed the economy?

We’re in lockdown and we need to get out. The economy is in tatters and we’re on the verge of seeing more deaths from economic strife than we will from the virus. But the government and the media have created a frightened mass of people who expect perfect information and no new infections before people’s freedom is restored.

That is not an achievable standard. The Governor and the President need to accept that there will not be perfect information, and that this is a virus that can not be controlled to a point where there will be no new infections. The original goal was not to prevent all infections, it was to keep the medical system from being overwhelmed. That goal has been met in Washington State. So much so that the government is comfortable sending away ventilators and closing down field hospitals.

We have also learned that the virus is not unusually harmful to healthy people under the age of 70. The Governor needs to move quickly to get young and healthy people back to work with reasonable mitigation, and to require stronger mitigation for people over 70, those with pre-existing conditions and those who are symptomatic.

Some businesses are going to need stronger standards than others. Those rules of the road need to be established, and the government needs to be working with representatives of various industries to get those rules established and disseminated during the month of April.

It is now the responsibility of the Governor and the President to develop detailed plans to restore our liberty as quickly as possible and communicate those plans so we can understand where the goalposts lie. The failure to do that is a failure of leadership.