Harvard University's Edmond J. Center for Ethics has launched a research initiative to help answer the question looming on most people's minds: when will the coronavirus quarantines end?
Danielle Allen, director of the center, told Cheddar that ending quarantine will require a robust social effort involving potentially thousands of workers and brand new technology solutions.
In the past, best practices for a quarantine order included setting a deadline to protect individual rights and set expectations, but COVID-19 presented too many unknown variables for lawmakers to come out of the gate with a set date for letting people return to normal.
"It was absolutely reasonable in this case that people issued orders with indefinite duration," Allen said. "This disease is so new and has so many distinctive features that it has been very hard for people to completely master its shape, its parameters. We did sort of need that blunt instrument."
But more than a month since the first stay-at-home orders went into effect, there is widespread demand for more information about when to expect state and local quarantine orders to end.
"It's going to take massively scaling up testing, tracing, and supportive isolation," Allen said.
Testing is perhaps the most widely understood post-quarantine measure, but it's also one of the most logistically complicated. Governors are currently making the case that heavy federal support will be necessary to produce the supply of tests needed to cover the entire U.S.
Tracing presents challenges as well, but there are a number of available options to pull it off.
"Contact tracing is one of the oldest and most important tools in the public health toolkit," Allen said.
The old-fashioned way to handle tracing is to do it manually. Individual investigators interview positive cases about where they've been and who they've been in contact with over the last two weeks.
"Can you actually achieve that with people, with person power doing all that contact tracing, or do also you need tech support?" Allen said. "Right now, I think the jury is out."
She pointed to a proposal from Johns Hopkins University recommending that the federal government invest in 100,000 paid or volunteer contact tracers to spread out across the country.
On the technology side, Allen highlighted Bluetooth-based apps that would help you track interactions for rolling two-week periods. That way, if someone comes up positive, the people they contacted could be warned.
Lastly, shifting to supportive isolation would be a step down from current stay-at-home orders.
"[Supportive isolation] is when you're infected and then you stay home, but it means people who aren't infected don't have to stay home," she said.
Here are your Need2Know stories for Tuesday June 7, 2022:
Today, voters head to the polls for primary elections in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota.
Senator Joe Manchin said he would support raising age requirements for gun purchases to 21. Manchin told CNN he also "wouldn't have a problem looking at" a ban on AR-15 assault rifles.
Meanwhile, five players on the Tampa Bay Rays roster opted not to wear a patch added to its uniforms intended to celebrate pride month.
Russia resumed attacks on the Ukrainian capital for the first time in months after vowing to focus its resources on the eastern region known as 'the Donbas.' Cheddar News Speaks with national security and foreign policy analyst Ari Aramesh on the latest developments surrounding Ukraine.
U.S. stocks close Monday's session slight higher Monday as investors continue to monitor whether the economy will successfully avoid a recession. For many, fears over inflation and rising interest rates. Tommy Mancuso, president and co-founder of the Bad Investment Company, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Bill Nye the Science Guy is back but on an even smaller screen. America’s favorite science teacher has racked up more than eight million followers on TikTok, and he joined Cheddar News to talk about his success on the platform, having fun but also being serious about scientific topics like tackling climate change, and his newest hosting project "The End is Nye," a streaming show on Peacock that examines disasters — both natural and manmade. "There are six episodes. We have big disasters. Things go terribly wrong, and then we show you how things could have gone right," he explained.
Cheddar Politics takes a look at the Biden Administration's effort to center inflation concerns in the White House's economic policies. Reuters White House reporter Jeff Mason joins Cheddar News to discuss what the White House is doing and what more it can do to help fix economic issues.
In another round of sweeping sanctions against Russia for its war on Ukraine, European Union leaders have agreed to ban the vast majority of Russian oil by the end of the year. But, the embargo covers only Russian oil brought in by sea, allowing an exemption for fuel imported via pipeline. Christine McDaniel, a senior fellow with the Mercatus Center, discusses just how significant this deal is, and what impact it might have on the global energy sector.
Catching you up on what you need to know on Monday, June 6, 2022, a string of mass shootings across the country this weekend, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a no-confidence vote this morning, and Tropical Storm Alex floods Miami.
U.S. stocks closed Friday's session near session to cap off the week in the red. The disappointing end to the day and week follows a lukewarm May jobs report from the Labor Department and comes as investors continue to eye future rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Callie Cox, U.S. Investment Analyst for eToro, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
