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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Epidemiology Expert: What Must Happen Before Maine, New England Reopen

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Thursday, April 16, 2020   

AUGUSTA, Maine -- Maine Gov. Janet Mills says she is coordinating plans with the governors of New Hampshire and Vermont to reopen the economy once it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders.

But according to an infectious disease expert, a few measures must be in place to lower the chances of COVID-19 spreading quickly.

Dr. Tim Lahey at the University of Vermont Medical Center says it's most important now to test people who potentially are sick with the coronavirus. Once the curve drops, and parts of the workforce go back, he maintains it's crucial to do contact tracing, or testing anyone who's been in contact with an infected person.

But Lahey believes another strategy is equally vital.

"You're also going to want to go back to some random testing strategies just to get a sense if the virus is or is not still circulating in the community, because that is going to inform public health measures," he states.

Lahey says New England states and some other states, such as California and New York, are close to being able to do contact tracing and random testing, once the COVID-19 curve drops.

But he says there will need to be many more workers doing testing, and most public health departments are sorely underfunded.

Lahey worries there could be a surge in infections without widespread testing after state economies reopen.

Lahey also is an ethicist. When asked about life-or-death decisions, such as when ventilators are scarce, he says the best policy is to prevent this kind of situation from happening -- which is working so far in the U.S.

For example, New York has been able to ramp up its medical capacity, and Lahey says it hasn't needed to make these choices.

"They've gotten close, but not quite," he says. "And so, certainly, a lot of us want to think about what we would do if we had to ration health care resources. But we're also working really hard to make sure that never occurs."

In general, Lahey says hospitals must have transparent policies about rationing health care services that are fair, unbiased, and don't discriminate against people with disabilities. They also should not cause severe moral distress for the medical workers making these decisions.


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