All the rhetoric around ‘opening’ the country or the economy assumes it was closed by fiat — which, overall, isn’t true and doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that when various governmental entities commit to ‘opening’ the economy again, the effect and in some cases the intent will be to punish businesses that are being cautious. Put bluntly: Stupid, aggressive businesses run by people who put private profit before public health will have a first-mover advantage, and will benefit from placing their employees at risk. Businesses run by people who are more cautious, civic-minded, and supportive of their employees will be at a severe disadvantage. And, without a doubt, executive and legislative decisions to ‘open’ the economy will include language that punishes the latter businesses — for example, by denying them access to bailout programs. We’ll all need to think very carefully about what this means: how to talk about it, how to translate it into effective and long-lasting advocacy, and how to intervene in ways that will discourage dangerous, profit-driven activities and encourage smart, civic-minded ones.