10 weeks to crush the curve (New England Journal of Medicine)

[Tanuki]

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2007263?query=featured_home

...."That choice begins with a forceful, focused campaign to eradicate Covid-19 in the United States. The aim is not to flatten the curve; the goal is to crush the curve. China did this in Wuhan. We can do it across this country in 10 weeks.

And with enough intelligence about the enemy — where the virus lurks, how quickly it is moving, where it is most threatening, and what its vulnerabilities are — we can begin to re-energize the economy without putting additional lives at risk.

If we take these six steps to mobilize and organize the nation, we can defeat Covid-19 by early June.

1. Establish unified command. The President should surprise his critics and appoint a commander who reports directly to the President. This person must have the President’s full confidence and must earn the confidence of the American people. This is not a coordinator across agencies. This commander carries the full power and authority of the American President to mobilize every civilian and military asset needed to win the war. Ask every governor to appoint an individual state commander with similar statewide authority. The diversity of our nation and the various stages of the epidemic in different regions allow us to target responses to specific places and times, deploy and redeploy limited national supplies where they can do the most good, and learn from experience as we go.

***I had to edit the OP, deleting most because it was brought to my attention that I had exceeded the 4-paragraph copyright rule. I didn't think that would be a problem because NEJM suspended its paywall for this and other important current covid19-related content, but so be it. I hope you will go to the link and read the rest of it.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. wonderfully aspirational and clearly laid out. The prospects of all of those happening?

[Chainfire]

2. Those are solid, common sense solutions

They will not influence Trump a damn bit.

[Squinch]

3. Fabulous plan. Won't happen.

[The Magistrate]

4. Thank You For Sharing This, Ma'am

A stirring call to arms!

[Tanuki]

6. You're welcome, but I'm a Ma'am and not a Sir, Sir!

[The Magistrate]

7. I Shall Edit, And Try And Remember, Ma'am

My apologies.

[SharonAnn]

13. He will never approve unified command and authorize any one else to command. Never.

[BigmanPigman]

5. Don't forget...lock the country down!!!

[Lars39]

8. Nope, everyone needs to be tested.

[Pobeka]

9. In the absence of a vaccine; 2 goals, 1) maximize ICU bed availability, 2) build herd immunity

Flattening the curve helps with 1), but if the curve is crushed and there is not enough herd immunity, then what? It can't be "business as usual". This is the problem China is facing right now.

From the standpoint of understanding herd immunity:
100% testing is not required to understand how many people have had the virus and are immune. A good solid randomized sample in locals will accomplish that.

From the standpoint of getting people back to work ASAP:
100% testing *is* required. In a true society, people that are immune should understand they are also working for those who haven't gained immunity and can't rejoin the normal workforce. And it looked like those with immunity may also be able to contribute their antibodies for those who aren't immune.

[beachbumbob]

10. holy hell will be breaking out before they get on top of this,

When people are hungry and we are just weeks away from that, thats when the failure of trump and his enablers becomes even more evident. What we need are the Bill Gates and the Warren Buffets types to really step up NOW to help stave that off as the Federal Govt is too broken to do until it gets so bad, martial law becomes the only option

[lark]

11. Yeah, we could be in a totally different situation if WH wasn't so antithetical to all life.

They killed us for drumpf's personal profit with him buying into a company owned by Jared's brother with 16 ee and giving them the nationwide CDC contract for the testing kits. It took 12 weeks for them to send valid tests and then those were few and far between. The co. is incapable of meeting the volume. Finally at 12 weeks they started allowing others to do their own tests, but they couldn't ship them, only drumpfs' co. can do that. That is a huge part of the reason tests are so needed, this was done for profits and for max disruption of our economy and to reduce the working class/poor. Then he had to profit off our national reserve so instead of dist. the vitally needed products he now gives them to companies to extort the states' for the highest prices, not sending them where they are needed most. He is fucking killing us for his own as well as the profits of his subservient oligarchs.

[customerserviceguy]

12. If we were

all little obedient worker bees like the Chinese, that might happen. Once a state or the federal government started welding the doors shut to apartment buildings (with the people inside) it might start a well-deserved ruckus.

[uponit7771]

15. 95% of Chinese complied of course there's going to be some idiots in any country. Similar can happen

... here if Americans got straight information and not told it was a hoax.

[customerserviceguy]

19. You mean like

three weeks ago, when we were told that masks were ineffective for anybody besides healthcare workers?

There's been a lot of misinformation floating around out there for the past two months.

[uponit7771]

20. +1, and fairly most of it has come from the Trump administration.

[uponit7771]

14. That's 3 months if we do the minimum which isn't happening now.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. Probably 3 months if we do the minimum, maximum, or nothing.

The difference is, how many will die? If we do the distancing, masking, gloves, isolation, maybe not as many deaths. But, I'd guess 3 months from now, the contagion will have slowed, and hospital equipment, supplies, personnel will be sufficient to handle the continuing stream of patients.

I'm not cancelling my July vacation hotel reservations yet. I'm hoping for some degree of normalcy by then.

[Alex4Martinez]

16. That first step is, apparently, a non-starter.

1. Establish unified command. The President should surprise his critics and appoint a commander who reports directly to the President. This person must have the President’s full confidence and must earn the confidence of the American people. This is not a coordinator across agencies. This commander carries the full power and authority of the American President to mobilize every civilian and military asset needed to win the war. Ask every governor to appoint an individual state commander with similar statewide authority. The diversity of our nation and the various stages of the epidemic in different regions allow us to target responses to specific places and times, deploy and redeploy limited national supplies where they can do the most good, and learn from experience as we go.

Trump continues to show his disdain for central control and uniform application of measures that should be taken to shelter, to test, and to collect data.

K/R for your post.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

18. We don't need a single unified commander. Because, if the president named one, ...

... it would be Kushner.

No thanks.

[Tanuki]

21. The author of the article was interviewed on Brian Williams' show,

and Williams asked if he had any suggestions. The author said there were several people he could think of, and mentioned Mike Leavitt and Ash Carter.