How to Live with Coronavirus

Andrew Sullivan: “The goal is not to ‘beat’ the virus, because it can’t be beaten. Now that it’s a pandemic, it’s here to stay. The goal is not to fight it, or wage war on it.  COVID-19 is not a rival military. The goal is to find the optimal path to living with it.”

“I want Anthony Fauci making that decision. Right now, as complete a shutdown as possible is the only sane option. And going forward, we should always lean on the side of the preservation of life rather than the maximization of wealth. Every life counts. And if we make that collective pro-life decision — and, mercifully, we are — we are also saying something quite profound about who we are as Americans. We are saying that the lives of the elderly, and the poor, and the vulnerable matter more, when all is said and done, than our GDP. I cannot see how such a society can go forward after such an experience without instituting the kind of universal health care that these values represent.”

“It’s hard to go through such ordeals without wanting them to mean something. Out of AIDS came marriage equality, a permanent shift in the relationship between gays and society. Out of this plague, let us erect in its memory another fitting monument that will never age, crumble, or pass away: health care for all.”