Here's what 500+ epidemiologists said.
As states continue reopening nonessential businesses and easing social distancing measures intended to curb the United States' new coronavirus epidemic, many Americans are weighing the risk of resuming activities like eating at a restaurant or getting a haircut.
To gain some insight, the New York Times' "The Upshot" reached out to about 6,000 epidemiologists with a survey asking for their thoughts on when they are likely to resume 20 common activities. "The Upshot" sent the survey to members of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, as well as to individual epidemiologists.
According to "The Upshot," some of the respondents said they didn't feel comfortable making predictions on when it would be safe for Americans to resume certain activities, because they didn't want to make guesses regarding potential treatments for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, or assumptions about data regarding new coronavirus infections. A group of 301 epidemiologists in a letter responding to the survey wrote, "Our concern is that your multiple choice options are based only on calendar time. This limits our ability to provide our expert opinions about when we will feel safe enough to stop social distancing ourselves."
