The Six-Step Solution to COVID-19. An open letter to the business leaders of the nation.
1. Problem: Administration. There is no national coordination of effort. No one has stepped up to take charge and coordinate. Governors are trying but can only have effect within their states. The president doesn’t understand the problem and refuses to listen to his health experts. The failure of leadership in Washington is manifest, so it’s up to the business community, in concert with academia and a few astute politicians, to save us from ourselves.
Solution: Some nationally known business leader needs to step up, be it Bezos, Gates, Buffett, whomever, to orchestrate the creation of a task force of health experts, business leaders, and academic leaders, perhaps even bi-partisan politicians to develop a national plan and to lead its implementation.
2. Problem: Testing. We are doing testing all wrong. Tests are expensive, costs vary depending on health plan, deductibles, take too long for results, and are not self-administered. The president has confused himself and others by not understanding the purpose of tests and positivity rates.
Solution: Devote money and resources to producing and distributing to everyone self-testing strips that within minutes reveal positive or negative results. Monoclonal antibody strips are currently available, are cheap to produce, and are easy to manufacture and require only spit.
3. Problem: Costs. Congress is willing to provide bailouts to companies and support for individuals in the trillions of dollars, yet none of that money is addressed to fixing the problem of virus contagion that lies at the heart of getting the economy going.
Solution: The profit motive is extremely powerful. Create and entity and sell shares of stock. For example, if it costs 50 cents to manufacture a strip -- we will need billions of them -- the entity can buy them and resell them to the government (the total costs would still be billions less than current proposed bailout monies) for $1.00 generating a profit to help cover costs of administration.
4. Problem: Distribution. How do we get strips into the hands of everyone.
Solution: The Post Office has a database of every mailing address in the U.S. Send a package to each household with multiple strips and instructions. Make supplies available in Post Offices for free for families who need more.
5. Problem: Participation. How do you convince people to participate and self test.
Solution: Business is very good at selling stuff. Here’s an opportunity to sell a process and an idea. Make it a matter of national pride for everyone to self-test. Kids would self-test daily before going to school. People would self-test before going to work. A negative strip would validate entry into school or work. A positive result would require self-isolation (of families if need be) until testing negative.
Self-isolation is mind-numbing and boring so it would require an incentive. Those who self-quarantine would get free broadband, a laptop if needed, instructions on how to get food delivered, and continuation of their paycheck or unemployment. (Employers would be reimbursed.)
6. Problem: Evaluation. Is the program working?
Solution: Make a national reporting database online where people can report anonymously, the results of their daily tests. A positivity rate going down would be evidence the program is working. The task force would have to assign a subgroup to design this. Perhaps make it a competition among communities, like a sporting event, to see who can have the lowest positivity rate, for example.
Washington has failed us, but here’s an opportunity for some high-profile business leader to step up and work to fix the problem and even make money in the process.
A cheap, paper test, is already available. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7Sv_pS8MgQ&t=662s for why even though the paper tests may be individually less reliable, in the aggregate they can be extremely reliable. And more recently: https://news.yahoo.com/india-roll-quick-cheap-coronavirus-040447500.html
https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-640/
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