As the wildfire of the COVID-19 rages out of control, I can’t help thinking that as an experienced project manager, if I were in charge of the national response to the pandemic we would be in a most safer place right now. Of course, that isn’t saying much since the same could be said of any reasonably intelligent human being with good common sense who is more concerned about the safety of others than self-glorification. .
No, I am not qualified to be President of the United States, but then again neither is Donald J. Trump. However, the task of leading the country through this pandemic doesn’t require a political savant or an infectious disease expert, though many in that field would make excellent candidates for the job. However, it does require someone who is able to absorb everything that can be learned from the medical experts and is willing to act accordingly. Of course such a person would require the full faith and backing of the executive branch and would need Congress to provide the funding to carry out the individual tasks that would be necessary.
Rather than wasting time detailing all of the mistakes made by the Trump administration since before tthe first case showed up on our shores (most of you are well aware of those many failings), it is much easier to outline what must be done now. As they say hindsight is 20-20, so much of what could and should have been done is fairly obvious to those who have a good understanding of the situation. So let’s concentrate on the here and now and how we should proceed in the face of our horrific situation that the complete absence of national leadership has created. The first few items on this list would have to be done simultaneously.
Ditch Politics: Take immediate steps to get politics out of the picture. As long as the general public believes that one party or any individual candidate or officeholder will benefit from how we go about fighting the virus, a large portion of our population will not trust those leading the fight against the pandemic. Federal agencies charged with making medical decisions on how to proceed must be given free rein to make those decisions independent of political influence using only science and the knowledge of this virus which we have already accumulated to guide their decision making. This independence must be shown in every way possible to the point that it is undeniable to all observers. For instance, pandemic briefings must be led only by scientific professionals and national leaders must make it clear that any rule they impose or action they take is the result of a consensus of those medical professionals.
Masks: Put in place a national mandate requiring the mandatory wearing of effective masks, and not the bandanas worn by bank robbers in old western movies. This should be followed with a federal advertising campaign depicting anyone refusing to wear a mask to protect his/her fellow citizens as uncaring, unpatriotic, and even criminal. Make the failure to wear a mask on federal property subject to hefty fines in the multiple thousand dollar range. Strongly encourage state, county, and city officials to do the same, perhaps encouraged by the loss of federal funds necessary to fight the pandemic at a state and local level if they refuse. The rational for such a harsh alternative would be that we shouldn’t be spending federal dollars in areas who refuse to help themselves.
Strong Guidelines: Totally back the requirement that the CDC’s strong guidelines be based on science and must be met before each stage of further reopening including the stores, bars, restaurants, churches, schools, sporting events, etc. Ensure that masks and social distancing guidelines are followed on reopening when appropriate. Mandate that reopening be scaled back to the appropriate levels when states or localities no longer meet those guidelines. Again, federal funds should be used as an incentive. State and local leaders may fume and fight such orders, but secretly they will love having someone else to blame.
Ban Risky Behavior: To the extent possible the federal pandemic team must be given the power to ban activities which could easily contribute the virus spread in states and local areas which have met the CDC’s guidelines for reopening those activities. This might be done by forcing states to comply in order to qualify for federal funds necessary to fight the pandemic. For instance, if bars where students congregate in college towns are shown to easily spread the virus, they should be shut down.
Testing: Put the entire power of the federal government to work as necessary to dramatically improve the availability and accuracy of COVID-19 tests, both viral (diagnostic) and anti-body tests. Use the Defense Production Act to the greatest extent possible to ramp up the production of tests, swabs, reagents, and all other necessary equipment, as necessary. Testing and contact tracing are useless if it takes too long to get test results. Provide federal funding for local testing facilities to buy more equipment and hire additional personal as needed. Set up numerous mobile federal testing teams with the personal and equipment necessary to set up self-contained testing locations ready to be dispatched to areas hard hit by the virus where local testing facilities are overwhelmed until those local assets can be reinforced.
Anyone who feels that they need to be tested should have the ability to be tested with results available in a few hours or days instead of weeks. Mandatory tests should be required in situations where the spread of the virus is likely such as reopening schools and universities, etc.
Contact Tracing: The identification of infected individuals by testing is necessary to get those people into quarantine so that they cannot infect others. That is absolutely necessary, but it is just the beginning of an effective effort to protect the public. Any individual who had contact with an infected person must also be identified and quarantined. Set up a national contract tracing unit to train and back up state and local contact tracing teams. When state and local contact tracing teams are overwhelmed by an outbreak of many new infections, some of those cases could be handed over to the national team for contact tracing.
Vaccines: Continue the national effort to identify safe and effective vaccines as soon as possible. The normally reluctance of a sizable portion of our population to be vaccinated has now been reinforced by concerns that vaccines might be approved for political purposes before they are certified to be both safe and effective. The public must be assured that no vaccine will be approved and distributed until it has been shown to be both safe and effective beyond all reasonable doubts. The CDC and other approving authorities must commit to submitting the study data verifying the safety and effectiveness of any vaccine up for approval to a panel of outside infectious disease experts for their input. This process should be publicized in a national ad campaign to reassure the general public.
Summary: Following steps such as these is the only way to reopen our economy effectively and completely. Unless the vast majority of the population trusts that engaging in all of their normal everyday activities is safe, participation in many of those activities will be limited and the economy will continue to suffer. As it has been said many times, the only way to return once again to a good economy is to beat the virus first.
Cajun (Rick Guilbeau) 9/6/2020