Officials need to get on the same page in their COVID-19 reopening policies | Opinion

Novel coronavirus is giving the United States a bad name when it comes to the “united” part. As our elected officials to continue to struggle in responding to the pandemic, we seem to be anything but.

Nail salons are open in Atlanta; they’re closed in Chicago. You can dine in on a chicken and biscuit breakfast in Columbus, Georgia, but not in Rochester, New York. Students attend classes at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, while it’s all online for Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The state of Florida is no exception. What’s good social distancing policy for Broward County isn’t occurring in Jackson County. The beaches may be open in Jacksonville, but they’re closed in Miami. To make an even finer point, you can sunbathe along Satellite Beach, but you can’t at Melbourne Beach. Both beaches are in the same Central Florida county.

It’s a confusing mix of restrictions, rules and policies — something we just don’t need right now.

Is this the best way to deal with a health crisis that, in the United States, already has more than 1 million confirmed cases and has claimed more than 68,000 lives? Given the concerns of a possible second wave of the virus, I and many other health officials would say No. Now is the time for our elected officials to be more united, rather than independent.

Unfortunately, our state and nation are creating a laissez-faire patchwork of public policies driven by political decisions that outweigh the more prudent approach preferred by public-health officials, hospital and nursing-home administrators, physicians, nurses and scientists. Granted, no one wants to see America’s economy, particularly its small-businesses sector, go under. However, a premature reopening could refuel the pandemic and prolong the agony.

We need a much more united approach, one that involves greater coordination between local, state and federal governments, one that follows the science and treats the coronavirus for what it is — a serious contagion. There’s still a lot we don’t know about the virus, which should caution us against a quick return to normal.

Many Americans agree — to a point. A CBS News poll found that 70 percent of the respondents believe remaining at home to fight the spread of new coronavirus is better than returning to work to re-start the economy. An NBC-News/Wall Street Journal poll produced similar results. It found that six in 10 Americans are concerned the country will move too fast to reopen.

Yet, no one wants to stay sheltered in place for too long; #quarantine fatigue is now much more than a hashtag, it’s reality. From the Oval Office on down, elected leaders are moving to roll back some of the restrictions. Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties — the hardest hit in the state — have eased restrictions on golf courses, boat ramps, marinas and some public pools ahead of the state’s reopening announcement.

Some localities have moved more aggressively than others. Georgia has been in the forefront, opening everything from restaurants to nail salons. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing for a quick re-opening, albeit at a slower pace. Still, how safe is it for a Tallahassee resident to cross the state line for a haircut in Bainbridge, Georgia?

There’s are good reasons why the pandemic needs to be addressed uniformly: The virus spreads, it knows no boundaries, it respects no borders. Independence, going various ways to cope with the virus, won’t cut it. As we move into a “new normal,” we should follow an old, but tried-and-true, mantra: United we stand, divided we fall.

Linda Quick, president and CEO of the Quick Bernstein Connections Group, a healthcare consulting firm, was president of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association.