Now is not the time for mixed messages

The president says he wants to reopen the U.S. for business in weeks, in contrast to warnings from health officials.

The numbers are daunting. And frightening.

But they’re not the most frightening thing as we careen into another week of a world turned upside-down amid a coronavirus pandemic.

The numbers are going to get worse. That’s what every expert tells us.

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania health officials reported 207 new cases of coronavirus. That brings the state total to 851. Seven people have died.

Nationally, as of Monday, there are more than 46,000 cases of COVID-19, the illness tied to coronavirus. The death toll is approaching 600. That is in contrast with more than 386,317 cases worldwide, with 16,713 deaths.

The region’s governors have responded. They have listened to their health experts by shutting down schools and non-essential businesses. New Jersey and Delaware have issued stay-at-home mandates.

Here in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney shut down the city. Gov. Tom Wolf did likewise Monday, but only for heavily affected suburban counties, including Delaware, Montgomery and Bucks counties. Wolf also extended the statewide school shutdown for another two weeks.

The governor hinted he would use the full force of the state — including state police — to enforce his order.

At the state and local level, the word is stay at home. Venture out only for needed trips to the supermarket, doctor or pharmacy. Officials again stressed all public and private gatherings are to be avoided. If you venture out for a walk or some exercise, the mantra remains “social distancing,” keeping 6 feet between you and other people you may encounter. That’s the scene locally. Which is beginning to stand in fairly stark contrast to the message increasingly emanating from the White House.

Last night President Donald Trump left little doubt that he is tiring of the harrowing message coming from the health field, going so far as to warn that he does not want “the cure to be worse than the disease.”

The president once again took the point at the daily briefing of his Coronavirus Task Force and maintained he wants to reopen the country for business in weeks, not months, which stands in stark contrast to warnings from health officials that doing so could endanger lives.

The medical and health experts insist the only way to “flatten the curve,” thus avoiding a catastrophic spike in infections that could overwhelm the nation’s health care system, is to continue to self-isolate and utilize “social distancing.”

The president does not seem convinced.

Not only that, but Trump actually suggested that the closures — and the economic gutpunch that accompany them — could result in more deaths than the pandemic itself.

“We can’t have the cure be worse than the problem,” the president said. “We have to open our country because that causes problems that, in my opinion, could be far bigger problems.”

Noticeably absent from Monday night’s briefing was Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and a member of the Trump task force. Fauci, while straining not to confront the president’s words in public, clearly has a different view. He has at times offered a stark view, suggesting the pandemic undoubtedly would get much worse in the next few weeks in the United States, and largely concurring with the call to shut things down in efforts to flatten the curve of the virus.

When asked how long he saw the shutdown lasting as the pandemic spreads, Trump was emphatic.

“I’m not looking at months, I can tell you right now,” Trump said.

The president zeroed in on noting differences among states that have been severely affected, and those with less serious outbreaks. He also suggested the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were exploring new guidance making it possible for people working in “critical infrastructure” jobs who have been exposed to the virus to return to work.

The nation’s governors for the most part have delivered a united message on the coronavirus pandemic. Shut it down. Stay at home. Use social distancing when you do venture out.

Meanwhile, at the federal level, the president seems intent on practicing another kind of distancing, increasingly distancing himself from the advice of the medical and health communities.

To that, we can only suggest the president mimic the words of governors: Shut it down.