9 of our top opinion columns this week: ICYMI
In today's fast-paced news environment, it can be hard to keep up. For your weekend reading, here are nine of this week's top USA TODAY Opinion pieces, all of them dealing with aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. As always, thanks for reading, and for your feedback. And be safe.
— USA TODAY Opinion editors
1. Why I watch Trump's daily coronavirus briefings (and no, it's not because I'm a masochist)
By Tom Nichols
"When this is over, there will be many Americans who will claim they didn’t know what the president said, when he said it, or what responsibility he might bear for any of this. I will not be one of them. I will remember. And I will speak up about it, for a long time to come."
2. On coronavirus crisis, science is the way out: Q&A with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ann Druyan
"Can science save us from the new coronavirus? With the internet awash in both sound science and pseudoscience, how can people know what to believe? Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ann Druyan, creator of the 'Cosmos' series now airing on the National Geographic channel, discussed these and other issues with the USA TODAY Editorial Board."
3. San Francisco is beating the coronavirus odds — so far. What can other places learn?
By Dr. Robert M. Wachter
"In San Francisco, we were lucky enough to have leaders who took seriously the lessons from prior pandemics, the science of infectious disease epidemiology and the experience of other countries hit first by the coronavirus."
4. The right way forward on coronavirus
By The Editorial Board
"Relaxing too soon would let the virus course its way through the system, producing enormous economic — as well as human — costs. Until the spread is brought under control, frightened people would stay home anyway. Supply chains would be interrupted. Governors who resisted social distancing edicts initially would be forced to relent."
5. Former CDC head on coronavirus testing: What went wrong and how we proceed
By Dr. Tom Frieden
"Testing is starting to catch up to the pandemic in the United States, but testing is just one part of a strategy. Testing can help protect health care workers, improve treatment and, when part of a coordinated strategy, reduce the number of new cases."
Hotline: Share your coronavirus story
6. Sen. Johnson: As we learn more about the coronavirus, try to put things into perspective
By Ron Johnson
"A commonsense approach would be to keep those shutdown and to provide financial support to their employees, and the businesses or organizations themselves, so they can reopen and rehire when the threat subsides."
7. Coronavirus: As a front-line doctor, I can't let another colleague suffer trauma, suicide
By Dr. Nivedita Lakhera
"Every day I talk to colleagues who are struggling with the painful deaths of patients and health care workers. They work while fearing infection from this highly contagious and fatal disease ... I can't let another friend die."
8. Trump's chaotic coronavirus presidency: Historically divisive and, for some, fatal
By Jill Lawrence
"Unity is not an unusual American reaction to a national crisis. Has Trump misjudged his country? We will find out for sure in November, but I think and hope the answer is yes. His rising approval ratings are the rallying 'round effect you would expect at a moment like this, a wish for America and its president to succeed in beating back a rampaging virus."
9. Let’s keep youth justice from making the coronavirus worse
By Marc Schindler and Vincent Schiraldi
"While most young people are at lower risk of catching or dying from the virus, youth in the justice system are generally less healthy than their peers. They have more gaps in Medicaid enrollment and higher rates of asthma, which increases the severity of COVID-19."
You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's coronavirus briefings; a possible success story: Top columns
