THE United States of America is back, reclaiming leadership in combatting and beating threats to the lives of the people and the planet.
The coronavirus pandemic is the most urgent and fatal health emergency that has been the leading cause of death and disrupting the lives of people and the economy of nations for more than a year now.
To defeat this invisible enemy that has taken the lives of more than 442,000 Americans and counting is top priority for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Barely two weeks since he was sworn into office, Biden and his administration have been acting swiftly and aggressively “to help protect and support our families, small businesses, first responders, and caregivers essential to help us face this challenge, those who are most vulnerable to health and economic impacts, and our broader communities — not to blame others or bail out corporations.”
For the first time in this war against the pandemic, the United States has a national strategy to defeat COVID-19, guided by the following principles and commitment that had been absent from the previous federal leadership during the most critical time when the spread of the virus could have been mitigated. It did not have to be this bad in America.
But it is never too late.
The Biden-Harris administration commits to always: “Listen to science; Ensure public health decisions are informed by public health professionals; and Promote trust, transparency, common purpose, and accountability in our government.”
The national strategy to beat COVID-19 is guided by the principle and goal of EQUALITY, which means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities.
Recognizing that each person has different circumstances demands that there be equity, the Milken Institute of Public Health says, “and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there is health equity “when everyone has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible.” Theefore, “equity is a process and equality is an outcome of that process.”
Therefore to achieve this and save more lives, President Biden and Vice President Harris are working on a seven-point plan to beat COVID-19: (whitehouse.gov)
Ensure all Americans have access to regular, reliable, and free testing.
• Double the number of drive-through testing sites.
• Invest in next-generation testing, including at home tests and instant tests, so we can scale up our testing capacity by orders of magnitude.
• Stand up a Pandemic Testing Board like Roosevelt’s War Production Board. It’s how we produced tanks, planes, uniforms, and supplies in record time, and it’s how we will produce and distribute tens of millions of tests.
• Establish a U.S. Public Health Jobs Corps to mobilize at least 100,000 Americans across the country with support from trusted local organizations in communities most at risk to perform culturally competent approaches to contact tracing and protecting at-risk populations.
Fix personal protective equipment (PPE) problems for good.
President Biden is taking responsibility and giving states, cities, tribes, and territories the critical supplies they need.
• Fully use the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of masks, face shields, and other PPE so that the national supply of personal protective equipment exceeds demand and our stores and stockpiles — especially in hard-hit areas that serve disproportionately vulnerable populations — are fully replenished.
• Build immediately toward a future, flexible American-sourced and manufactured capability to ensure we are not dependent on other countries in a crisis.
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.
• Social distancing is not a light switch. It is a dial. President 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.
• Establish a renewable fund for state and local governments to help prevent budget shortfalls, which may cause states to face steep cuts to teachers and first responders.
• Call on Congress to pass an emergency package to ensure schools have the additional resources they need to adapt effectively to COVID-19.
• Provide a “restart package” that helps small businesses cover the costs of operating safely, including things like plexiglass and PPE.
Plan for the effective, equitable distribution of treatments and vaccines — because development isn’t enough if they aren’t effectively distributed.
• Invest $25 billion in a vaccine manufacturing and distribution plan that will guarantee it gets to every American, cost-free.
• Ensure that politics plays no role in determining the safety and efficacy of any vaccine.
The following 3 principles will guide the Biden-Harris administration: Put scientists in charge of all decisions on safety and efficacy; publicly release clinical data for any vaccine the FDA approves; and authorize career staff to write a written report for public review and permit them to appear before Congress and speak publicly uncensored.
• Ensure everyone — not just the wealthy and well-connected — in America receives the protection and care they deserve, and consumers are not price gouged as new drugs and therapies come to market.
Protect older Americans and others at high risk.
President Biden understands that older Americans and others at high-risk are most vulnerable to COVID-19.
• Establish a COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force, as proposed by Vice President Harris, to provide recommendations and oversight on disparities in the public health and economic response. At the end of this health crisis, it will transition to a permanent Infectious Disease Racial Disparities Task Force.
• Create the Nationwide Pandemic Dashboard that Americans can check in real-time to help them gauge whether local transmission is actively occurring in their zip codes. This information is critical to helping all individuals, but especially older Americans and others at high risk, understand what level of precaution to take.
Rebuild and expand defenses to predict, prevent, and mitigate pandemic threats, including those coming from China.
• Immediately restore the White House National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, originally established by the Obama-Biden administration.
• Immediately restore our relationship with the World Health Organization, which — while not perfect — is essential to coordinating a global response during a pandemic.
• Re-launch and strengthen U.S. Agency for International Development’s pathogen-tracking program called PREDICT.
• Expand the number of CDC’s deployed disease detectives so we have eyes and ears on the ground, including rebuilding the office in Beijing.
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.
Experts agree that tens of thousands of lives can be saved if Americans wear masks. President Biden will continue to call on:
• Every American to wear a mask when they are around people outside their household.
• Every Governor to make that mandatory in their state.
• Local authorities to also make it mandatory to buttress their state orders.
Once we succeed in getting beyond this pandemic, we must ensure that the millions of Americans who suffer long-term side effects from COVID don’t face higher premiums or denial of health insurance because of this new pre-existing condition. The Biden-Harris Administration will work to ensure that the protections for those with pre-existing conditions that were won with Obamacare are protected. And, they will work to lower health care costs and expand access to quality, affordable health care through a Medicare-like public option.
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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
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Gel Santos Relos has been in news, talk, public service and educational broadcasting since 1989 with ABS-CBN and is now serving the Filipino audience using different platforms, including digital broadcasting, and print, and is working on a new public service program for the community. You may contact her through email at [email protected], or send her a message via Facebook at Facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos.
