Thought of the Day - November 25 - "COVID Zero"

As anyone who has been directly involved with workplace safety knows there is only way to curtail accidents. That is to declare the goal and work diligently towards "zero" accidents. Any less-lofty a goal is doomed to failure as it means that accidents are still acceptable, and thus inevitable. To do this you need not to just eliminate accidents, but eliminate near-misses and risky situations, as they are a harbinger of failure.

It has taken a long time for the same thinking to be discussed around COVID-19. Unless our goal, together, is zero COVID cases we are simply resigned to plans on how best to live with COVID-19. A "COVID Zero" approach means our measure of success is "Zero", anything else and we have failed. With this in mind we stop the "we are doing better than them" or "we are doing better than last month" or "we are doing better than we would have if" mentality, as these are not goals, these are at best just interim measurements.

But "COVID Zero" also means that any factors or parties that are not fully align with this objective must be "eliminated" and in the case of COVID this will be very, very hard. Not because anyone wishes COVID on the population, but we need to recognize some people are thriving because of it.

By way of example, again in workplace safety, ultimately Work-Safe BC will never be successful. "Zero Workplace Accidents" needs to encompass the elimination of most of the Work-Safe BC department, as the goal implies there will be no need to process claims or do incident investigations. Thus they compromise with objectives like "reduction of lost-time accidents" or "elimination of workplace fatalities".

In the same way, I feel most western world countries do not have the will to eliminate COVID-19, instead we will continue to focus on living with it for quite some time to come. Remember when you hear people say this new catch phrase make sure they have thought through what it implies and not just drinking the "COVID Zero" Cool Aid.

Cheers

Cliff