Widespread suffering and death are not inevitable, and that’s especially clear when you compare our situation to many other countries. Deaths from COVID-19 per 100,000 people in the United States are more than double those in Germany, 50 times as many as in South Korea, and 238 times as many as in New Zealand.

Our top priority has to be doing whatever we need to do to get our caseloads down, especially with new variants of the virus emerging that could be more easily transmitted. That means making the hard choice to shut down wherever and whenever the virus is spreading out of control. And unfortunately, right now that means most of the country. 

We should also do the simple thing that we know can curb the virus’s spread: mandating and enforcing mask-wearing outside whenever physical distancing isn’t possible, and at all times when indoors. By closing non-essential businesses, ensuring people stay home, and enforcing mask-wearing we can effectively slow the transmission of this virus and prevent thousands more from dying. 

No doubt shutting down will be extremely difficult, and require real sacrifice from everyone. Our state leaders are under enormous pressure from people arguing that shutting down our economy will cause more suffering, or that the economic cost is just too high a price to pay. Saving lives has got to be our top priority, and what’s more, leading economists have gone on record arguing that the only way to restore the economy is by addressing the pandemic itself. Policymakers should provide financial relief for Americans to be able to stay home so that we can slow the spread.

If we don’t take all of these actions, or stop at half measures, then the consequences will be measured in even more suffering and death. Few people living today remember what it was like to live through a world war, but that’s what we’re in, and we’re going to have to sacrifice if we want to save ourselves and each other. Just as the greatest generation did, we need to step up to what history has delivered.

That’s why we're organizing an army of medical experts, caregivers, emergency workers and everyday people, calling on our leaders to do what it takes to beat COVID. We’re calling on state and federal lawmakers to tell us the truth about the virus, even when it’s hard; to take bold action to save lives, even when it means shutting down again; to harness our collective resources to provide the testing and contact tracing it will take to contain the virus, and vaccinate enough people to eventually end the pandemic.