A man in a face mask walks past a café with an "open" sign in the window

Brief

Reopening the Economy: What Are the Risks, and What Have States Done?

Enghin Atalay,
Shigeru Fujita,
Sreyas Mahadevan,
Ryan Michaels &
Tal Roded

20 Jul ’20

The process of reopening economies battered by the COVID-19 pandemic has been the subject of considerable deliberation in recent months. It is generally agreed that accurate and timely monitoring of the pace of coronavirus spread is of the utmost importance in managing reopening.

In addition, the discussion of reopening has often been framed by an assessment of the health risks posed by each economic sector. Some sectors, for example, involve especially close and protracted interaction among customers and employees, which can facilitate COVID-19 transmission. Accordingly, the sequence in which sectors are opened can have significant public health implications.

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