The reality is that while deaths from Covid dominated March and April, the tragedy since has consisted of both continued fatalities and an equally appalling toll in economic destruction measured in lost jobs, businesses and incomes.

If, like Mr. Biden, one wants to criticize Mr. Trump’s early handling of the virus, feel free. But the nominee shouldn’t be allowed to duck answering what people want to know about his plans now for opening the country.

Will a country of more than 330 million people be obliged to suspend their lives indefinitely until a Biden scientist declares the coronavirus “fixed”?

Or, given the emergence of therapeutic options and vaccines next year, why shouldn’t we be allowed to conduct our lives, schooling and livelihoods more or less normally alongside the unavoidable reality of new virus infections and even hospitalizations?