Viewpoints: We Should Be Looking In Mirror Instead Of Over At China; Economic Devastation Shines Light On GOP Cruelty

The Washington Post: The Real Scandal Isn’t What China Did To Us. It’s What We Did To Ourselves.
The Trump administration is trying to whip the country into an anti-Chinese frenzy because the novel coronavirus might have been accidentally transmitted from a laboratory rather than a wet market. But surely the larger question we should be asking is why we have been seeing viruses jump from animals to humans with such frequency in recent years. SARS, MERS, Ebola, bird flu and swine flu all started as viruses in animals and then jumped to humans, unleashing deadly outbreaks. Why? (Fareed Zakaria, 5/7)

The New York Times: An Epidemic Of Hardship And Hunger
Covid-19 has had a devastating effect on workers. The economy has plunged so quickly that official statistics can’t keep up, but the available data suggest that tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, with more job losses to come and full recovery probably years away. But Republicans adamantly oppose extending enhanced unemployment benefits — such an extension, says Senator Lindsey Graham, will take place “over our dead bodies.” (Actually, over other people’s dead bodies.) (Paul Krugman, 5/7)

The Hill: To Avert The Next Public Health Crisis, We Must Provide Support And Assistance For Mental Health Care 
As a senior member of the House Committee on Homeland Security and member of the House Budget Committee, I am writing to draw the attention of federal and state policy makers, health care professionals, first responders, the faith community, all enlightened Americans and impress upon them the urgent need to act in the face of one aspect of the collateral damage caused by COVID-19: the emerging mental health crisis... Mental illness has long received too little attention from policy makers and public health advocates who too often reflect upon and stress the importance of physical health insurance with little note of the importance of mental health coverage. COVID-19 should be the catalyst for the nation that spurs the adoption of universal public health policies that accept the necessity of dollar for dollar mental health coverage. (Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, 5/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Americans Need Hope As Well As Safety
New jobless claims came out this week, putting American unemployment at an estimated 33.4 million. ADP, the payroll-processing company, reports the private sector lost more than 20 million jobs in April alone. Earnings reports are dreadful, and whole sectors—air travel, hospitality—are being wiped out. Nothing will turn around soon. It is a catastrophe. But you know all that. (Peggy Noonan, 5/7)

The Washington Post: The White House’s Coronavirus Cure Is Even More Magical Than We Could Have Imagined
We’ve all hoped and prayed for something to save us from this pandemic. Will it be a vaccine? A therapeutic drug? Large-scale testing and tracing? An antibodies-rich llama or pack of virus-sniffing dogs? Nope. According to the White House, the real coronavirus cure is even more magical: tax cuts. At least the GOP is consistent. (Catherine Rampell, 5/7)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Group Testing Can Help Fight The Pandemic
Once we’ve beaten back the first wave of Covid-19 infections, the next phase of the fight against the pandemic begins. And that requires testing, lots of testing, much more testing than we’re doing right now in the United States, so we can isolate the sick from the well and keep the curve from kicking upward again. Researchers at Harvard say we need to triple our current capacity to test. How do we get there? One possible solution is happening right now in Nebraska. Instead of using more tests, the state is testing more people with the tests it has. (Jordan Ellenberg, 5/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Who Should Lead The Virus Fight?
One hopes the answer to the question in today’s headline will be the inventor of a vaccine or treatment. But until that day arrives, a new CNBC poll suggests that Americans are ready and willing to fight the coronavirus with common sense and without impoverishing government mandates. Like many other such polls, it shows President Donald with underwater approval ratings in general and for his response to the virus in particular. But his 44% approval rating on virus response is much better than the 30% rating earned by Congress and also better than the 37% rating for the federal government in general. (Freeman, 5/7)

Stat: Covid-19 Has Renewed America's Trust In Its Doctors. Will That Last?
I had a disturbing conversation with my younger sister about the public perception of doctors and Americans’ trust in them. We were home in Delaware for Thanksgiving. While telling me about her life as a college student in New York City and her new social circles, she mentioned being irritated by their hostility towards physicians. In casual conversations, and even in classroom discussions, these young people agreed that physicians are greedy and care only about money. (Jasani, 5/7)

The Washington Post: The U.S. Needs An Army Of Workers To Reopen. These Senators Have An Idea For Getting It.
We need an army of workers to reopen the country. The good news is, a group of senators has an idea for where to find one.Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) and several colleagues introduced legislation this week to pay for 750,000 national service positions over the next three years. It’s a big number because it has to be: Experts estimate that the United States will require hundreds of thousands more public health employees to track cases, conduct tests and more. Contact tracing alone would call for almost 300,000 personnel to match the scale of successful efforts in Wuhan, China; more conservative estimates of what’s necessary still hover in the six-figure range. (5/7)

The Wall Street Journal: The Kindness Of A Funeral Amid Covid-19
Covid-19 has killed some 75,000 Americans—friends and co-workers—and many more will follow. This harrowing statistic brings to mind Pascal’s words in 1670: We shall die alone. The passing of those laid low by the novel coronavirus is especially solitary and alienating. Some victims die alone at home, while others suck their last desperate breaths through a ventilator, with loved ones ordered to await word from far away as doctors and nurses watch through a cloud of insulated plastic. (Rall, 5/7)

The New York Times: Hospitals Are Having To Ration Essential Care. Can They Do It Fairly?
Recent reports make clear that American hospitals have already had to ration lifesaving treatment for Covid-19 patients. Initially, the fear was that ventilators would be in short supply. For now, there seems to be enough. But some hospitals are short on dialysis machines as well as the staff members and supplies to run them. It’s excruciating to think of doctors being forced to decide which patients get care and which don’t. I teach moral philosophy, and as I read those reports, I couldn’t stop thinking about the philosopher John Taurek’s 1977 paper “Should the Numbers Count?” (Scott Hershovitz, 5/7)

Stat: Nursing Homes, Veterans' Homes Are Epicenters Of Covid-19
It is only Saturday afternoon and our emergency department has already seen the fourth patient with Covid-19 from one of the local nursing homes this weekend. She was fine just a few days ago; now she is disoriented and can’t catch her breath. At age 75 and with other chronic conditions, should we put her on an experimental therapy? A few hours later, an ambulance brings a patient from a different nursing home, one that already has 21 residents with Covid-19 cases, three of whom died in the past week. (Sunil Parikh, 5/8)

CNN: Valet's Diagnosis Threatens Trump's Fantasy
The danger is inside the house. A member of the US Navy who serves as a valet to President Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19. This means the deadly virus has likely circulated in the White House living quarters, threatening the president's health and, perhaps, the denial that has marked his response to a pandemic that has killed nearly 75,000 Americans in less than four months since he declared, "We have it totally under control." (Michael D'Antonio, 5/7)

The New York Times: We Need National Service. Now.
There is now a vast army of young people ready and yearning to serve their country. There are college graduates emerging into a workplace that has few jobs for them. There are more high school graduates who suddenly can’t afford college. There are college students who don’t want to return to a college experience. This is a passionate, idealistic generation that sees the emergency, wants to serve those around them and groans to live up to this moment. Suddenly there is a wealth of work for them to do: contact tracing, sanitizing public places, bringing food to the hungry, supporting the elderly, taking temperatures at public gathering spots, supporting local government agencies, tutoring elementary school students so they can make up for lost time. (David Brooks, 5/7)

The New York Times: The Anti-Lockdown Protesters Have A Twisted Conception Of Liberty
Most Americans support the lockdowns and want the government to bring the coronavirus under control before opening up the economy. But “most” is not “all,” and a small minority is eager to end all the restrictions now, even as the virus spreads and Covid-19 caseloads continue to grow. A small faction of that minority has taken to the streets in vocal opposition to stay-at-home measures and the politicians responsible for them. They carry guns and wave Confederate flags and denounce virus mitigation strategies as “tyranny,” an imposition on their liberty to shop, consume and do as they please. (Jamelle Bouie, 5/8)

CNN: How The 'Hinge Event' Of Covid Will Change Everything (Opinion) 
We all have a general sense of what "national security" means and what threatens it. But we need to rethink and update the term, now that our way of life is facing a dangerous threat, not from a foreign army, spy network or terrorist organization, but from a microscopic virus that has, quite suddenly, changed everything. (Peter Bergen, 5/7)

Stat: What The Covid-19 Pandemic Is Teaching Us About Community
Ata time when Americans are being asked to practice social distancing, this necessary isolation is taking a toll on the well-being of individuals and communities. But even as Covid-19 pandemic underscores the pain of disconnection, it can also inspire a revival of meaningful connection. As health care professionals working to coordinate care for individuals with complex conditions, we’ve struggled for decades to break down silos and foster cross-sector collaboration to meet the needs of our nation’s most vulnerable populations. (Lauran Hardin and Shelly Trumbo, 5/8)

The New York Times: Coronavirus And The Global Food Supply. What’s Going On?
Belgians are being told that they need to increase their consumption of frites. Across Britain, farmers have dumped millions of pints of milk down the drain instead of churning it into butter. In Iran, millions of baby chickens — which may have one day been bound for barbecues — have been buried alive. In India, farmers are feeding strawberries to cattle rather than sending them to markets.Is this what an “efficient” global food system looks like? (Jennifer Clapp, 5/8)

Los Angeles Times: Don't Screw Up L.A. Trail And Park Reopening. Wear A Mask
OK, Los Angeles, after a two-month eternity spent huddling at home with the occasional escape to walk around the neighborhood or travel to the grocery store, city and county leaders are reopening some stores, hiking trails and golf courses. It will be a relief to be outside again. It’s also going to be a nerve-wracking experiment to see whether Angelenos can safely return to some normalcy without triggering a surge of new COVID-19 cases. (5/7)

Fox News: Coronavirus Reaction — Is Your Government Embracing Tyranny? 
“Of all tyrannies,” C.S. Lewis once observed, “a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. We’re seeing the truth of these words play out right now all across the country, and if you don’t believe me, just look at the headlines. While we try to help each other stay healthy and safe, state and local authorities are seizing unprecedented amounts of power in the supposed pursuit of that goal, setting dangerous precedents along the way. (Sen. Rand Paul, 5/7)