"the Apollo program of our times."

[pat_k]

This nation needs to mount a "moonshot" effort to support massive testing, tracing, and quarantine in every state -- and a pledge not to reopen (from governors, if not from Trump) until the capability is in place (that should be a hell of an incentive for the private sector to get on board).

Set the ambitious goal and a date to achieve it, and put together the resources and people needed to get there.

We ARE capable of getting this done.

Seattle Times
When will this end, and what comes next?

Keeping the virus under control in the long term will require an ambitious strategy that one Seattle scientist calls “the Apollo program of our times.”

The basic approach is no different than for any other epidemic: Identify those who become infected, as well as those who have been exposed, and isolate them. But that would mean a massive scale-up of testing and contact tracing, at a time when even nursing homes still can’t get enough test kits and public health agencies are swamped.

Trevor Bedford, the Fred Hutch computational biologist who made the moonshot analogy, says what’s needed is new technology, including simple home tests and the use of cellphone location data to alert people who may have been exposed. Some epidemiologists say it could even be necessary to impose intermittent lockdowns through the end of the year, to keep hospitals from being flooded with patients.

If the strategies work, they will buy time for the development of lifesaving treatments and a vaccine.

“People really do need to understand the sad truth here, related to the fact that we’re not going to be able to stop this outbreak,” said Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County. “We’re trying to manage it, but people will continue to get sick. People will continue to get critically ill. People will continue to die.”

[Turbineguy]

1. We do need that

but we won't get it with trump in charge.

[pat_k]

2. Then a coalition of states needs to get on the stick.

Sound the call to action, do everything in their power to put together public/private resources, and push Congress to act. If they want to save lives, while saving the economy, this is what is needed.

Who knows, it could wake up Trump's tremendous ego and prompt him to actually help make it happen -- so he can take credit.

The choices are pretty clear. Put together a program of massive testing, identification, tracing, and targeted quarantine, or allow it to rebound and then be forced to institute another lengthy, incredibly costly, universal lock down.