Test and Trace: The Key to Stop COVID-19
a Three-Minute Lesson from Dr. Santo D. Marabella, The Practical Prof®
BOTTOM LINE FROM THIS LESSON:
The United States has a greater percentage of COVID-19 world deaths, but one of the lowest percentages of world populations.
The U.S. can stop deaths with massive, coordinated testing and tracing.
Then, we can safely begin the process of opening and re-building the economy.
The most developed country in the world does not have a national plan to test all those who need to be tested. I have a 94 year old father who should be tested to ensure his health status before he becomes symptomatic. So should I and the caregivers in the house. We can’t yet, because there is no provisions at the national level — state and local authorities, and the hospitals, are doing their best.
Look at the statistics for other countries. Here is an objective source: World- ometers (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries)
Don’t look at absolute numbers — we need to focus on percentages.
For example, the United States has about 4.25% of the TOTAL WORLD POPULATION (same source as above). However, we currently (as of this writing, April 17) have about 23.7% of the TOTAL DEATHS from COVID-19. Sadly, there are likely more that have not been included). Let me say that again — the most developed country in the world has the greatest percentage of deaths, even though we do not have the largest number of people in the world.
Here’s another example: we have tested about 10,266 people for every million people — that’s a little over 3 million tests (For updates on testing, see this source: Covid Tracking Project https://covidtracking.com/). If we look at other countries, Germany has tested 20,629 per 1 million people, Spain has tested 19,896/million people; Italy has tested 19, 490/million people. Belgium, Canada, Russia, Switzerland, Portugal, Austria, Ireland, Israel, Denmark and Australia — each country has tested a great percentage of their population — more tests per 1 million people — than the U.S.
I share this data with the hope of informing. Obviously, each person draws their own conclusion, but I hope that your conclusions are based on this objective information!
My conclusion is — this is horrific! People are dying because the Trump Administration’s actions suggest their focus is re-election, NOT the economy, NOT the people. A people-focused strategy would lead and support — and fund — states’ capacity and resources to ramp up testing and contact tracing. Even a strategy focused primarily on the economy would acknowledge that a long-term solution requires a widely-shared confidence in a reasonable level of health safety — informed by testing and tracing — for people to be willing to re-engage: go to work, go to stores, go to church, go to restaurants, etc. When we have healthy employees, healthy customers and healthy suppliers, we can launch a re-start and grow the economy without irrational fear.
I realize it’s tempting to get distracted by our frustration with social isolation and temporary inconveniences, or even the cause of the virus’ origin. Certainly knowing how and where it started may be helpful in finding an end to its devastation, but that’s not our priority right now. Right now, that isn’t as important. It doesn’t even matter how we handled it in January, February or March. What matters is what we DO NOW! Let’s keep our eye on the target — stopping the spread and finding treatments or a cure! We need more testing! So we can isolate and trace, and ultimately, save lives.
If you’re picking up on my tone of frustration, that’s correct. But, more than frustration, I am angry. Yes, this has become personal! It finally happened, it was inevitable. My family lost a loved one from complications of the coronavirus! No family should lose a loved one in this way, at this time! I pray we do what’s necessary to stop COVID-19!
