200K deaths due to a predictable and preventable coronavirus. How many more until we demand action?
THREE ACTIONS REQUIRED
Ending the pandemic will require that each of the fifty states take three actions. Where is your state in the process?
1. Create an army of contact tracers:
30 contact tracers per 100,000 residents are needed during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to estimates from the National Association of County and City Health Officials. In nonemergency situations, 15 workers per 100,000 population are needed. Ask your governor’s office and state public health director how many contact tracers your state has. This information should be public. (Note: This means for a state like New Mexico, still in lock down, with two million residents, 600 contact tracers are required.) See Article.
2. Ensure easy and timely access to safe testing:
So many questions. How easy is it for all your state’s residents to access the test? Do all have transportation to testing? What is your supply of tests in each of your counties? What is your supply of protective gear for all your health care providers across the state? Your governor’s office should know this. Your local elected leaders should know this, too. A website could make all this information available to the public. See Article.
3. Enforce prudent public health guidelines.
It is simple — or should be. To end an infection caused primarily from person to person contact, typically through coughing, sneezing or talking, people must wear masks and practice physical distancing. For many reasons, including a deep distrust of government, not all the public in the US are bought into CDC guidelines for reducing the infection rate. See Article.
To get the public to comply with mask wearing and social distancing, government leaders must continue to earn and inspire trust — and lead. Do your governor and mayors explain their plan for moving forward — addressing the pandemic, economic disruptions, joblessness, business closures, access to survival services and the future of education? Do their strategic plans, which should be make available online, make sense?
Three actions. Just three.
Until these three actions are successful, the pandemic continues along with all the disempowering consequences to everyone in your state. This is a historic moment for each state’s elected officials and stakeholders — and you — to take an unprecedented leadership role in ending a public health and economic crisis.
Each state has to power to create a society where 100% can thrive.
Depending on leadership, a state could see huge successes in a few months or the pandemic drags on for years. We either work collectively toward a best case scenario or we end up in a shared living nightmare.
*The future is what we make it. Join the evolution.
Please excuse any typos as I construct an article at 3am on only one cup of Joe. These stories are mine and mine alone. I do not represent any organization here. If one of my illustrations looks like a real human or three-headed hydra, that’s total coincidence. Words and images ©Dominic Cappello but share with everyone you know. Questions? The Plan Forward awaits you here: www.tenvitalservices.org
