Let's throw the kitchen sink at covid-19 and get back to normal by October

[dalton99a]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-it-would-take-to-get-back-to-normal-by-october/2020/07/27/a8886854-d02d-11ea-8c55-61e7fa5e82ab_story.html

Let’s throw the kitchen sink at covid-19 and get back to normal by October
Opinion by Editorial Board
July 27, 2020 at 2:30 p.m. CDT

ANY DAY now, the United States will cross another grim threshold of death from the coronavirus: 150,000 people lost. By contrast, South Korea has lost 299 people, Germany 9,125. Per million population, the United States has lost 423.6, Germany 110 and South Korea 5.8. Behind these statistics lies the epic failure of President Trump and his administration to mount a national response in the face of catastrophe.

The experience of other nations in fighting outbreaks — even raging outbreaks — should make Americans realize: It doesn’t have to be this way. The United States could tamp down the wildfires of virus in two months. The methods are not a secret, and they are not rocket science. Two prominent public health experts have suggested that with a concerted effort, the United States could reach near normal by Oct. 1. Andy Slavitt, a former health care official in the Obama administration, and Peter Hotez, a professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, have separately outlined how the United States might reach a point where schools and businesses can reopen.

“Let’s say we threw the kitchen sink at COVID-19 in the U.S. Let’s say we started now with the goal of being open for business in October — meaning schools, in person voting, sports, everything. If we did everything. What would happen?” Mr. Slavitt wrote on Twitter. Dr. Hotez wondered whether “potentially we could even launch a college football season or the NFL?”

What would it take? Both experts recommend a nationwide, concerted federal effort to break virus transmission, going beyond the “flatten the curve” attempts of the spring. This would be hard to do, demanding sacrifice and economic pain, but paying off in a more sustained recovery later on. Dr. Hotez recommends, through federal leadership, setting a national target for containment, such as one new case per million residents a day, although something less strict might also work. To get there, Mr. Slavitt suggests universal mask-wearing; keeping bars, restaurants, churches and transit closed; prohibiting interstate travel and stopping inbound arrivals from abroad. He also suggests setting up hotels for those with symptoms to isolate, free, and implementing a major national lockdown, more severe than in March and April with many more workers staying home.

[soothsayer]

1. 100 days is all it takes (plus concerted effort)

Then you need sustained effort, but things are much better after the 100 days

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. The Trump Administration is NOT listening to the Experts....

Trump is NOT listening. He is spreading conspiracy theories instead that is killing people.

[dalton99a]

3. The Republican Party - and Vladimir Putin - couldn't have picked a better person for the job

[ScratchCat]

4. Neither Andy Slavitt nor Peter Hotez

Would be economically affected by their proposals like 90% of the rest of us would. That goes for almost every single person making these "shut down the country" proposals again. I'm tired of hearing people working for six figure salaries saying jobs that they don't hold are "non-essential". Its disrespectful at a minimum, and offensive to the rest of us.

[unblock]

5. indeed, we could announce a pending lockdown and give people a week or two to stock up.

then really shut down everything except truly essential stuff, test anyone who leaves their house.

after about 7 weeks, the virus should be limited to people known to have it, and as the number of new cases should be largely limited to same household transmission and contact from essential activities (i.e., in hospitals) we can carefully reopen (in areas with a small number of active cases) with contact tracing from there.

the real problem is with mixed messages or active sabotage from public officials, it's hard to get the people to comply. if you have enough idiot/terrorists running around spreading germs during a pandemic, then 7 weeks turns into 7 months or longer....