In your humble opinion, is it the right time to step out of the pandemic lockdown?

Depends on the area and the cases data. My county has a total of 10 cases. 1 death, 6 recoveries. 3 active cases. We have over 50,000 people. We should be open. 

Now, NYC should not be open. Again based on numbers. 

Why on earth would you consider MY opinion humble? LOL, you know me better than that!

At least three weeks after the last reported new case in your state, no sooner. If state borders are open, then three weeks after the last new case in your nation. If international borders are open, then three weeks after the last new case in the world. Otherwise there will be wave after wave after sickening wave. This post was edited by Slartibartfast at May 7, 2020 6:22 PM MDT

When we know who is sick and who isn't. I don't understand why the president and everyone who comes near him is tested constantly, but he still says we don't need testing to end the shutdown. Ideally, we would have a vaccine, but I don't think we can wait for that to re-open.

I live in NYC and the borough that probably has the most cases.  We are heading in the right direction, but we aren't there yet.  Deaths are up, but hospitalizations are down.  I would like to see us remain in a holding pattern until there are fewer new cases and deaths.  Testing is critical, but you'd never know it listening not Trump.  Contrary to what he says, we do not have enough test kits.  Of course, New York is one of the states on Trump's enemies list, so we are pretty much on our own.  I think Cuomo is doing an admirable job, but the mayor stinks.  I would wait until the end of May to see where we are and then make a determination.  

I think barber shops and hair salons should be allowed to open.
They are used to sanitizing equipment between customers, and can schedule so they comply with social distancing guidelines.

Maybe it's the right time in Canada but probally not the right time in the US. Canada is starting to reopen  with strict  social distant rules and wearing masks. But I have seen news clips of people in the US packed together with no masks and I heard a report of a security guard getting shot because he told a person that they could't go in the store without a mask. It could of been the right time in the US if Trump  would of listened  to science instead of himself. Cheers!

Tough call.

Arizona numbers are weird. Whereas New York (state) had 319k cases and 19k deaths, Arizona has had under 10k cases and around 400 deaths. We're about on par with Cali when the population numbers are taken into account even though they've had way more cases than us. We also have the heat- triple digits already- which some say may help kill the virus too. Our hospitals aren't full yet either.

BUT, a leading mathematical epidemiologist announced just a couple weeks ago that the models they were doing indicated that if we (AZ) open before the end of May, we'd need to close again because our numbers would spike. And, we had over 400 new cases yesterday- one of our top days so far. And, our governer not only fired the aforementioned scientist, but halted all mathematical modeling/ predictions and made the decision to open salons tomorrow and some sit-down restaurants on Monday. I mentioned before our water park opens tomorrow too. 

I think Arizona is about to have a major spike. What I don't know is whether we're equipped to handle it or not. That's the crux of it. I feel like, in general, this could have been handled better than it was. Perhaps if there was more communication from the start about what was happening elsewhere and the importance of staying home as much as possible, avoiding direct contact with vulnerable populations, and so forth, that people would have self-managed. i.e. Companies would have kept people home (if only to avoid having their whole workforce call out) and people would have restricted their own travel. I still have not seen a model that showed predictions on what would have happened with no closures or a self-managed model. 

That in mind, I'm still not 100% certain the pandemic necessitated a lockdown. We were never shown numbers to demonstrate what alternatives looked like in terms of deaths and economic toll. But, here we are and we are on lockdown. It really doesn't matter when we reopen because there will be a spike whenever we do. There isn't enough natural immunity and there's no vaccine. We're looking at (years?) before we wouldn't see a spike. How much does it really matter if we open tomorrow or in six months? The fact is, we don't know. Nobody knows. 

It's all very cloak and dagger. Our officials say "the models say" or "the data say" but we don't actually get to see the data. Meh. 

So, is it the right time to step out of it? I don't know. We don't have the data to know. What should determine it? ... Most of us are probably going to get it, so probably whether we have the infrastructure for people to get it all at once. And, I think that needs to be handled on a state level. Some counties and cities are too poor to cope with this. They'll need the support of their states to have the resources they need. 

It seems better not to! Btwn I hope all our members in US and elsewhere are doing fine and safe..

My personal opinion, no. Testing is getting better, but we need to get the antibody tests out nationwide, and available for everybody. Deliver them to GP offices, and have everybody come in at a scheduled appointment to get tested. 

We need to distinguish;
1. Those who have antibodies (can resume to normal life, is not vulnerable, can't infect anybody) 
2. Those who are currently infected (contagious, needs quarantine)
3. Those who are neither (only vulnerable to the currently infected) 

Bottom line: Those who have antibodies cannot infect those who haven't had the SARS-COV-2 virus. That means we could safely open back up if we KNOW who's had it, who has it, and who hasn't had it.