There is an exercise in B-school where two groups are given a mandate: you must negotiate over an orange to get the life saving medicine it provides for your team without resorting to cutting it in half. Turns out it’s possible. One team needs the juice and the other team needs the peel, but the only way to discover that is to collaborate. Imagine that!

Unfortunately, most teams lose the challenge as they resort to 0 sum negotiation, or “I win, you lose.” “I deserve the orange because …. “ instead of “tell me about what you need the orange for…”

We are treating reaction to the Coronavirus like the orange, as if there are only two opposite solutions and one must win. NY, NJ and CA are Democratic strong holds with huge sway over the DNC in federal politics. They are urban states with high population densities. They want the country to remain shut down while they grapple with the coronavirus.

Republican states are generally south (hotter) or have lots of rural, low density living who want their communities open.

These two opposing view points have spilled into the national media with some shaming Georgia and others highlighting protesters as champions of freedom.

There is an easy solution. Let states do what they think is best, understand that one solution does not suit all circumstances, and stop covering local variances in the National media.