WASHINGTON (AP) — The contrast could hardly be more stark. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said that if all of his sweeping, expensive measures to stem the coronavirus saved one life, it would be worth it. President Trump says the costs of shutting down the economy outweigh the benefits, frequently telling Americans that 35,000 people a year die from the common flu.
Though it may seem crass, the federal government has long made a calculation when imposing regulations, called "the value of a statistical life," that places a price tag on a human life. It has been used to consider whether to require seat belts, airbags or environmental regulations, but it has never been applied in a broad public health context.
The question is urgent now that Trump has latched on to the notion that the cure for the pandemic should not be worse than the disease and claimed that "more people are going to die" if the economy remains closed. He wants to reopen the economy by Easter Sunday, April 12, against the advice of infectious disease specialists.
Critics say he's presenting the nation with a false choice as deaths and infections from the virus are surging.
"We're not going to accept a premise that human life is disposable," said Cuomo, whose state has seen far more infections and deaths from Covid-19 than any other state. "And we're not going to put a dollar figure on human life."
For decades, the federal government has made calculations on how policies intended to safeguard American health could affect the economy. Since the Reagan administration, federal agencies have been required to analyze any proposed regulations that are expected to have $100 million or more impact on the economy.
The Environmental Protection Agency, for example, conducts cost-benefit analysis to estimate in dollar terms how much people are willing to pay for reductions in their risk of death from illnesses caused by pollution. The Transportation Department estimates the additional cost that consumers would be willing to bear for improvements in safety at $9.6 million.
Now, the push-pull of when to reopen the economy during the coronavirus crisis centers on a similarly bleak question: What's an economically acceptable death toll?
Putting dollar figures on the value of life and health is inherently uncomfortable, one expert said.
"People hate that question," said Betsey Stevenson, an economics and public policy professor at the University of Michigan who served on the White House's Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration. "By laying out the math in such a crude way, people cringe when they see it."
Days into his call for Americans to dedicate themselves for 15 days to social distancing, including staying home from work and closing bars and restaurants, Trump changed his tune. He grumbled that "our country wasn't built to be shut down" and vowed not to allow "the cure be worse than the problem."
As he has done so often, Trump claimed news media and even medical professionals are trying to undermine his presidency for political reasons.
"The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success," Trump tweeted Wednesday. "The real people want to get back to work ASAP. We will be stronger than ever before!"
