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Cooper: We don’t know what we don’t know about the COVID-19 virus, but we must move forward

The Associated Press / A health care worker drops a specimen collection into a container after testing a motorist for the COVID-19 virus at a community testing site in the parking lot of La Flor de Jalisco #2 in Gainesville, Georgia, last weeka.
The Associated Press / A health care worker drops a specimen collection into a container after testing a motorist for the COVID-19 virus at a community testing site in the parking lot of La Flor de Jalisco #2 in Gainesville, Georgia, last weeka. The Associated Press / A health care worker drops a specimen collection into a container after testing a motorist for the COVID-19 virus at a community testing site in the parking lot of La Flor de Jalisco #2 in Gainesville, Georgia, last weeka.

By Clint Cooper 4 min read

No matter what any experts tell Americans about the COVID-19 virus, what we know is we don’t know what we don’t know.

Got it?

Since that is the case, we have to use the best public health information we have at the time, and the knowledge of what the virus stay-at-home orders have done to the economy, to move as safely and efficiently as possible in returning to work. That will mean protecting older and vulnerable Americans more than ever before, changing work habits so everyone remains safer, and prioritizing testing, tracing and other aspects of the virus that help us learn as much as possible about it.

We must acknowledge, though, we cannot know everything we need to know before returning to work, before rebuilding the economy and before considering our vote in the November presidential election.

For instance: