Over the weekend, Fauci continued to insist that "the virus kind of decides" when we reopen the economy. Not true. We decide. There are massive potential costs either way. We must take decisionmaking seriously rather than pretending that easy answers are in the offing.

By the end of this week, we should know a LOT more about how many people have actually been infected by coronavirus in major areas of the United States -- the denominator in case fatality rate from covid-19. That will aid us in making far more rational decisions.

The biggest problem now is lack of data. Everyone recognizes this. The question is how fast we can get the data necessary to determine worst and best case scenarios under various plans for reopening.