Buckle up, we are going to go through repeated tightening and loosening of C-19 response regulations for many months to come.

It's likely wrong to assume we are crawling to "normal" in a few months. Epidemiologists are starting to model and forecast a series of outbreaks that will require multiple tightening and loosening of restrictions on businesses, schools, and society in general. The sooner we grasp this concept, the quicker our local and state governments can begin to work together to develop a national rating system to direct guidelines for our society with better compliance and quicker recoveries after each outbreak.

At some point, either at the federal or state levels, there will be a standard similar to the National Fire Danger Rating System controlling the "tightening" and "loosening" of a metro, region, or an entire state based on the lagging 14-day per capita Positive C-19 tests and/or per capita C-19 death rates. It will be localized scoring that will re-institute restrictions in response to additional outbreaks and standards for loosening restrictions in phases, over time.

Anticipate multiple waves of tightening and loosening over the next 18 months or so, until most of the population is a buffer due to being prior positives or once C-19 shots are widely available.

Dr. Tom Friedman, the prior CDC Director, suggests it will look something like this:

There will need to be an objective test for tightening regulations on schools, businesses, and society in general. Again, Dr. Tom Friedman suggests something like this for when and how to tighten the faucet:

https://preventepidemics.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/COV020_WhenHowTightenFaucet_v3.pdf

And how and when to loosen the faucet, gradually over time:

https://preventepidemics.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/COV020_WhenHowLoosenFaucet_v4.pdf

So what does this mean for your business? Or for your city? Community and business leaders need to prepare for this new normal now.