As States and Countries start to open back up, there is a lot of disagreement about how it should be done.  So if you were magically put in charge of a State or Country, what would you do?

Would you tie the lifting of restrictions to the numbers?  (Number of cases, number of hospitalizations, number of deaths, number of vaccines given...) 

Would you be worried about Covid fatigue? Which people would you listen to? Those who are DONE with restrictions, or those who are DONE with people not following the restrictions?

Would you tie the lifting of restrictions to the weather?  Warmer weather means people can be outside more, does that matter?

Would you lift the restrictions all at once, or in stages?  If numbers go back up, would you freeze at that stage or put back restrictions that had been lifted?

Would you lift restrictions on certain groups of people? (The young, the vaccinated, essential workers...)

Is there another way to go about this?  What is it?

As I watch different States here in the US start to lift restrictions, I see them doing it differently.  I am not sure there is one right way, but I am sure that there are wrong ways.  What would you do?

Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, South Korea and Taiwan have all shown us what to do.  Stop the bug FIRST, completely. Then your economy can recover fully. Their economies are all booming!

A piecemeal approach eventually produces a piecemeal recovery and more deaths overall.  To return to the parachute analogy.  We* took off one 'chute the first time numbers dropped, and had to open the second one when our fall accelerated.  ---------------

With all the new variants springing up, we might not have a third 'chute.

Economies:

Australia:   https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=australia+economy+2020 - https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=australia+economy+2020

New Zealand:   https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-16/new-zealand-economy-surges-out-of-recession-amid-spending-spree - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-16/new-zealand-economy-surges-out-of-recession-amid-spending-spree

Vietnam:   https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/vietnam-is-asias-top-performing-economy-in-2020-amid-covid-pandemic.html - https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/vietnam-is-asias-top-performing-economy-in-2020-amid-covid-pandemic.html

South Korea:   https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/10/27/bouncing-back-south-koreas-recession-ends-as-exports-surge - https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/10/27/bouncing-back-south-koreas-recession-ends-as-exports-surge

Taiwan:   https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/01/taiwan-economy-outgrows-china-first-time-in-decades-as-chips-demand-rises.html - https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/01/taiwan-economy-outgrows-china-first-time-in-decades-as-chips-demand-rises.html

*UK and USA

Technophobe, 

That approach would have worked great a year ago, but it Is no longer possible.  Here in Ohio, our economy could not handle a complete shutdown and the people would not stand for it.  “Things are getting better, why should restrictions get worse?”  A governor would be thrown out for that way of thinking. (There has been a lot of talk of removing our governor, and he was in no way as severe as you suggested.)

So if we can’t wait for cases to fall to zero, what can we do?

We vaccinate and move forward.

I never said it would be easy, or even actually possible, Little house.  But from the start I have been saying the same thing, the economy can't recover whilst the disease rages.

We here in the UK are in the same boat.  I know we are stuck with that status quo, but the projections therefrom are far rockier than those adopting the other approach.

I sincerely hope the vaccines supress the virus to the economic recovery point, but I am well aware that our approach is the 'second best option'.

If the variants prove to be as or more troublesome as the original virus, the point will be moot.