A coalition of health professionals is urging the nation's leaders to step back from the push to reopen the economy and shut down nonessential businesses to prevent the loss of more lives from the spiraling pandemic.
In to "decision makers," a group of doctors, scientists, teachers and nurses says leaders need to "shut it down, start over" and "do it right." The letter, which has been signed by more than 1,000 health professionals, says that means more testing and contact tracing, mandatory masks in all situations, more personal protective equipment and a ban on interstate travel.
The consequences of opening too soon
"Our core argument is that, unfortunately, the first time we did this, we didn't do it right," Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease physician who signed the letter, with NPR on Wednesday.
That failure, she said, has brought the nation to where it is today with cases and a death toll that crossed the grim milestone of 150,000 on Wednesday.
The rising caseloads are and causing 鈥� facilities that are often the least equipped to handle the pandemic.
A bigger federal role
New shutdowns don't have to happen everywhere, Kuppalli said. They should be targeted in states that are particularly struggling to contain the virus 鈥� such as , , and .
"Ideally, this would be coming from some sort of federal universal plan," she said.
That could be a tall order, given that Republicans and Democrats are still struggling to reach agreement on
"Changing the narrative"
"Many of the actions of our government thus far have fallen short of what the moment demands," according to the text of the letter.
Take . Public health professionals encourage their use as an effective measure to slow the spread of infection. But face coverings have often been dubbed a partisan 鈥� or at least divisive 鈥� issue. While a growing number of states in public, many have resisted calls for such orders. In states such as Georgia, that has fueled tensions between and governors who don't.
To overcome these challenges, Kuppalli said it's important to better communicate the gravity of public safety measures like wearing masks. "We do need to work really hard in changing the narrative when it comes to these things," she said.
Steve Mullis produced and edited the attached audio for Morning Edition. contributed to this story
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