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President-elect
Biden Releases Seven Point Plan To “Beat” Covid-19
Plan Reflects
Belief That It's Not Too Late To Make A Difference
The newly elected
president Joe Biden lost no time in announcing the creation of an
advisory task force and the release of a 7-point plan to tackle the
pandemic. The overall guiding principles for the plan are to 1) listen
to science, 2) ensure public health decisions are informed by public
health professionals, and 3) promote trust, transparency, common
purpose, and accountability in government. The Task Force of
approximately a dozen experts includes at least one epidemiologist,
namely Minnesota epidemiologist Michael
Osterholm.
Guiding Principles
The main goals of this
plan appear to stand in direct contrast with the stances of the
current Trump administration, especially the reliance on science, the
likely return of the voice of the CDC, and the call for mask mandates
in every state that can still save thousands of lives. Each of the
seven goals includes several more specific objectives.
Seven Goals
1. Ensure all
Americans have access to regular, reliable, and free testing.
More specifically,
this goal calls for investing in next-generation testing, including at
home tests and instant tests and producing and distributing tens of
millions of these tests.
2. Fix personal
protective equipment (PPE) problems for good.
3. Provide clear,
consistent, evidence-based guidance for how communities should
navigate the pandemic – and the resources for schools, small
businesses, and families to make it through.
According to the
announcement, “Social distancing is not a light switch. It is a dial.
President-elect Biden will direct the CDC to provide specific
evidence-based guidance for how to turn the dial up or down relative
to the level of risk and degree of viral spread in a community,
including when to open or close certain businesses, bars, restaurants,
and other spaces; when to open or close schools, and what steps they
need to take to make classrooms and facilities safe; appropriate
restrictions on size of
gatherings;
when to issue stay-at-home restrictions.”
4. Plan for the
effective, equitable distribution of treatments and vaccines — because
development isn’t enough if they aren’t effectively distributed.
Objectives include
ensuring that politics plays no role in determining the safety and
efficacy of any vaccine. To accomplish this, three guiding principles
will be to put scientists in charge, publicly release clinical data
for any vaccine the FDA approves, and authorize career staff to write
a report for the public and to testify publicly uncensored.
5. Protect older
Americans and others at high risk.
6. Rebuild and expand
defenses to predict, prevent, and mitigate pandemic threats, including
those coming from China.
7. Implement mask
mandates nationwide by working with governors and mayors and by asking
the American people to do what they do best: step up in a time of
crisis.
To read more specific
details of the new plan, visit:
https://bit.ly/2KLgtsR
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