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Who do you trust most -- either in the news or in your personal life -- to explain what is going on right now? Tell us about why you trust them.

Dear Pandemic Journal: Sadly, I lack much trust in many institutions right now. ... Abrupt college campus closings forced my kids (like every other college student) to drop everything they were in the middle of working on at school to pack up and leave immediately. My two kids drove cross country together from New England to get back home to Colorado in two days. Families of college students really did not know how to deal with the possibility that their returning kids may be infected and contagious. As parents, we anxiously collectively waited for each institution to decide how to handle the rest of spring semester 2020. Then, while we all held our breaths during our kids’ travels home, parents discussed the most recent information we had on Covid as well as strategies we could use to keep everyone in the household safe and healthy. These college parent boards provided crucial emotional and informational lifelines for me during March, especially. I trusted and connected with many as similarly concerned parents and am grateful that we were able to be there for each other during a most stressful and uncertain time. Now, three months later, I honestly do not know who else I can trust for realistic and reliable information about how the US plans to get through this pandemic in one healthy piece. The re-opening process that has begun is very disorganized and uncoordinated. No central leadership exists. I believe there must be small pockets of health and research experts who really are informed about the status of our situation and what needs to be done. They are kept silent, somehow, or live in fear of political execution, however, and so do not get heard.