Every American city is different in terms of its transportation infrastructure and population density, two variables (among many others) which have major implications for the spread of COVID-19. So to what extent should the response to this crisis be handled by the federal government vs state and local governments? Former County Judge Ed Emmett, who led the recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston area in 2017, joins Dan to examine this complicated question and talk about the urgent need for governments to begin looking ahead to re-opening the economy and allowing Americans to get back to work.

Judge Emmett is an expert in emergency management at the local level, serving for almost 12 years as the County Judge for Harris County - the third most populous county in the country. He currently serves as a professor of public policy at The Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University.