The federal government needs to take a leaf from Mario Puzo’s classic mafia novel The Godfather — let alone Francis Ford Coppola’s masterful cinema adaptation — to more effectively deal with the coronavirus pandemic. 

In a scene from the Godfather Michael Corleone, who has taken over the “family business” from his father Don Vito, tells the family that he is restructuring and that “Tom Hagen is no longer consigliere.”

A consigliere in the mafia is the Don’s right-hand man, a trusted adviser who gives sage advice on the operations of the “business” in all its aspects.