What Were We Thinking? Selected Schar School Op-Eds Part 2 (July 2020)

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Originally published on July 31, 2020 

Read the Schar School op-eds from the first half of July.

From the Washington Post:
Arizona Reopened Too Fast. Epidemiologists Knew It, But We Couldn’t Stop It.

The past few months have been so frustrating that it’s hard to describe. We’ve been working around-the-clock since February. My early hope that widespread community transmission wouldn’t happen has been dashed by the explosive rise in cases. The politicization of masks and public health data have shaken me to my core. I’m grateful every day for the masks and personal protective equipment that keep me safe while I support health-care workers and patients in infection prevention. Seeing people call basic public health and social responsibility efforts a violation of their rights has astounded me — especially as they kept at it while thousands protested safely for basic civil and human liberties.

—Saskia Popescu, PhD Biodefense ’19, Phoenix epidemiologist

From the Washington Examiner:
Don’t Hold Rallies—COVID Requires a Different Style of Political Campaigning

But what you can’t do if you are running for president is infect more people unnecessarily. Every infection comes with a risk of infecting others, and eventually, killing some of the citizens you claim to care about.

—Jeremy Mayer

From Foreign Policy:
Does Guyana Foretell an American Future?

As Guyana demonstrates, when partisanship is so racialized, it augurs trouble for democracy. It allows personal identities to distort and narrow a conception of “the people.” It undercuts people’s capacity to empathize with their fellow countrymen. It devotes citizens to their tribe rather than to their country’s institutions, making them less willing to lose and more willing to break rules to win.

—Justin Gest

From the New York Times:
Opening Schools Won’t Be Easy, But Here’s How to Do it Safely

Second, schools should avoid high-risk activities. This means no contact sports either in the gym or in competitive athletics for high school students. It also means no band, choir or drama performances. We know that this will be both disappointing and difficult. But close contact for prolonged periods of time with forced exhalations is what increases the risk of transmission. Playing football and basketball and wrestling simply cannot be done safely. We understand that missing a season could lead to missed scholarships for student athletes. But these activities will have to wait a year. That said, we should allow outside physical activity on playgrounds, ideally with masks, and noncontact sports like track and field.

—Saskia Popescu, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, and James Phillips

From the Cipher Brief:
Selling F-35s to Saudi Arabia Risks and Arms Race

Saudi possession of F-35s would significantly alter the military balance of power in the region and could initiate a chain reaction throughout the Middle East. At minimum, it presents two major problems.

—Karina MacLean, senior Government and International Politics major, International Security minor

From the Washington Post:
Wall Street Doesn’t Care If Trump Loses. Here’s Why.

To my way of thinking, many of these initiatives are long overdue and will in the long run enhance the performance of the American economy and restore the moral legitimacy of American capitalism. To the business lobby, they represent a nightmare scenario. 

—Steven Pearlstein

From Richmond World Affairs:
A Foreign Policy for America’s Local Governments: The Northern Virginia Model

For two decades, NVRC’s application of this international model has transformed Northern Virginia’s approach to global engagement. Using partnerships in Germany as an example: Bike and pedestrian trail planning in Fairfax has been informed by work in Stuttgart. NVRC helped Arlington County adopt solar energy photovoltaic programs from Bottrop. It helped frame stormwater management programs in the City of Alexandria by drawing lessons from Hamburg and Berlin. Workforce training lessons in Fairfax County and public health practices related to the COVID-19 crisis in Falls Church have been influenced by work in Esslingen and Kiel. 

—Richard Kauzlarich and Dale Medearis

From Brookings:
The Impact of COVID-19 and the Policy Response in India

After the economic stoppage, the International Labor Organization has projected that 400 million people in India risk falling into poverty.

—Maurice Kugler and Shakti Sinha