Deadly Equations Confront Asia's Virus Reopening
Leaders are faced with a painful choice between economic paralysis and the threat of resurgent infections.
Learning to live with the virus.
Photographer: JUNI KRISWANTO/AFP/Getty Images
The trade-off between health and economic well-being is arriving with brutal speed in parts of Asia.
Governments itching to return to normal activity are being confronted with a spike in Covid-19 infections. That’s forcing them to choose between putting reopening on ice or reviving commerce at the potential cost of lives. Faced with this unenviable bargain, they appear to be leaning toward the latter. It’s a question that leaders hoped they’d never be forced to face, or at least not until economies had already stabilized: What increase in cases is acceptable to get the workforce back on the job?