US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — The president says we are at war with the coronavirus. In this war, we must fight until victory.
The economy is under siege. From threatening the lives of several thousand to more than a million Americans. Most analysts believe the pandemic will last for many months, and economic recovery will take even longer. However, as economists say, there is a dominant option that allows you to simultaneously limit the number of deaths and return the economy to a stable state.
To do this, we must begin a persistent and targeted campaign to eradicate Covid-19 in the United States. The goal is not to straighten the curve; the goal is to turn the tide and destroy the coronavirus. China did it in Wuhan. We can do this all over the country in 10 weeks.
Having enough intelligence information about the enemy – where the virus is hiding, how fast it moves, where the greatest danger lurks, what are its weak points – we can give new strength to the economy without putting people at extra risk.
If we take six steps to mobilize and organize the country, we will be able to defeat Covid-19 by early June.
1. Create a single command. The president should surprise critics by appointing a commander who will report directly to him. This person should enjoy the full confidence of the president and earn the trust of the American people. This is not an interagency coordinator. This commander must have all the power and authority of the American president in order to mobilize all civilian and military means to wage war and achieve victory. All governors must be ordered to appoint commanders in all states with the appropriate authority. We have a diverse country, and the epidemic in different regions is developing in different ways, which allows us to concentrate efforts in specific places and at a specific time, transferring limited forces, means and supplies to where they will bring the greatest benefit.
2. Make millions of test systems available. Not everyone needs to be checked. But you need to check everyone who has symptoms. The country needs to gather strength and make millions of diagnostic tests in the next two weeks. So did South Korea succeed. Each case decision should be based on a sound medical assessment and test results. Without diagnostic tests, we cannot determine the extent of the epidemic. It is necessary to invently and creatively mobilize the efforts of research laboratories so that they help to examine the population. Those whose survey results are worrying should be referred for further testing. Clinical testing points must be created in every area that is remote from medical facilities. For example, you need to continue to create driver test points without leaving your car.
3. It is necessary to provide medical personnel with personal protective equipment, as well as equip hospitals so that they are ready for a sharp increase in the number of seriously ill patients. Every healthcare provider in the United States who is at the forefront of treatment and testing should have a sufficient supply of personal protective equipment. We will not send soldiers without body armor into battle. The paramedics on the front line in this war are no different from soldiers. Regional supply centers should quickly distribute ventilators and other necessary equipment from the national reserve to hospitals that are in urgent need of it. Despite all efforts, the crisis-affected standards of medical care will have to be applied in the regions most affected by coronavirus.
4. It is necessary to divide the population into five groups, and treat them accordingly. First, we need to know who is infected. Secondly, who can be infected (these are people with signs and symptoms of infection, in whom the first test gave a negative result). Thirdly, who contacted. Fourthly, it is not known who he was in contact with or was infected. The fifth group is those who have recovered from the infection and have sufficient immunity. We need to act on the basis of symptoms, examinations, tests (today it is PCR diagnostics that allows us to detect viral RNA) and contacts, determining which of the first four groups a person belongs to. It is necessary to hospitalize seriously ill and those at high risk. It is necessary to create first-aid posts and isolators on the basis of empty conference centers in order to care for and treat those who has a mild or moderate form of the disease, as well as a low degree of risk. If you isolate all infected people, this will reduce the risk of the disease for members of their families. The hotels that are empty today must be converted into quarantine centers, placing those who have been in contact with carriers of the virus there. They must be isolated from the population for two weeks. Such quarantine makes sense if an outbreak has not started in a given city or region. To identify the fifth group, that is, those who became infected, became ill, cured and received immunity, it is necessary to develop, test and apply tests based on antibodies. This will allow you to quickly, efficiently and safely restart some sectors of the economy.
5. It is necessary to inspire and mobilize society. In this total struggle there is a place for everyone, and literally everyone is ready to participate in it. We have given free rein to American ingenuity, and this will help create new drugs and a vaccine, a variety of diagnostic tests. With the help of information technology, social networks, artificial intelligence and high-speed computers, we can develop innovative solutions. These efforts should be intensified. Everyone can help reduce the risk of infection and support friends and neighbors at a critical time. When all medical workers are provided with masks, the US Postal Service and private companies willing can start delivering surgical masks and disinfectants to every American home. If every person outside the house will wear a surgical mask, people with symptoms and infection will be less likely to infect others. And also, if everyone wears a mask, they will not be suspicious of anyone.
6. We need to learn in the process of conducting basic research. The medical work will be significantly improved with the advent of effective antiviral drugs, and here all the available opportunities must be used. This is what we did with HIV, and now we must do exactly the same with SARS-CoV-2, but faster. Doctors need more predictive information about which of the patients may deteriorate rapidly and who may die. Health decisions and economic recovery decisions should be based on scientific evidence. If we know how many people have become infected, and whether they now have immunity, we can determine whether it is safe for them to return to work and normal life. Can the rest return to work? This will depend on the extent and intensity of the infection, on the nature of possible contacts with carriers in the workplace, on the reliability of examinations and the rapid detection of new cases of the disease. Can schools be opened, and how safe is it? It depends on what we know about children as carriers of the virus that infect teachers, parents, and relatives. How dangerous are infected rooms and surfaces? It depends on the survivability of the virus in different environmental conditions and on different materials.
If we take this approach, if we act in concert and decisively, if we are guided by the data of science, we can begin to revive the business. Airlines will again work, hotels, restaurants, entertainment and leisure centers will open. By giving money to people in the next two months, protecting small businesses and removing restrictions on loans, the president, congress and the Fed will create conditions for the economy to quickly return to its usual state and confidently go forward – when the virus is eliminated.
If we do this, there will be less grief and loss in American families, we will play our part in the global fight against Covid-19 and will be able to better help other countries. If we stubbornly limit ourselves to half measures in this war against coronavirus, we run the risk of putting a heavy burden on the shoulders of the economy: nervous consumers, illness, rising medical costs, and weakened business activity.
Trying to overcome the epidemic, we must take measures to better cope with the coronavirus and other threats of the 21st century in the future. A safe and effective vaccine will help protect everyone and become a barrier to the virus, which could return from other regions of the world. By improving public health infrastructure, we will expand the ability of the country, states, and cities to counter future threats. Creating accurate models for predicting new infections will significantly increase our preparedness.
Instead of walking, stumbling and stopping, confining ourselves to half measures in the field of healthcare and economics, we should devise a strategy to destroy the coronavirus and revive the economy. If we take action without delay, on June 6, 2020 we will have a new Victory Day, the day when America declares victory over the coronavirus.
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The article is written and prepared by our foreign editors from different countries around the world – material edited and published by Ordo News staff in our US newsroom press.