The coronavirus pandemic poses a different kind of challenge, threatening the nation’s health as well as its economic prosperity, but it must be met with the same kind of audacious, coherent and coordinated response. So far, as the virus spreads from person to person and state to state, the federal government has lagged several steps behind. Americans need much more from Mr. Trump. The president must try to emulate the sober urgency with which his immediate predecessors, President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, confronted the 2008 crisis. That means emptying theater halls and stadiums, paying sick workers to stay home, closing schools and universities — in short, bringing much of normal life, including economic life, to a standstill.

Source: New York Times March 13, 2020 00:44 UTC