Page 1 - To Combat Covid, Don’t Turn the Clock Back - WSJ

10/14/2020 To Combat Covid, Don’t Turn the Clock Back - WSJ

OPINION | COMMENTARY
To Combat Covid, Don’t Turn the

Clock Back

A return to standard time would mean an hour less for outdoor social activity.

By Dinah Miller
Sept. 3, 2020 7 07 pm ET

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES ISTOCKPHOTO

I was that kid, the one who showed up an hour early for Sunday school in the fall and
wandered in an hour late in the spring. My phone now remembers daylight-saving time

for me, but I still dread the Sunday when we turn back the clocks and the world gets dark
earlier in the evenings. This year in particular, as we struggle with Covid-19 and the
dangers of indoor living and socializing, an earlier sunset will leave many people

vulnerable.

Daylight-saving time isn’t universally observed. World-wide, 140 countries have adopted
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it at some point, but only 75 countries currently observe it. The only U.S. states that don’t
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set their clocks forward and back are Arizona and Hawaii. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 TO NEXT

set the last Sunday of April and October as the dates to move the clock forward and back, PAGE >>>
respectively. Daylight-saving time was extended by a month in 1986 and another month in

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