Thought of the Day - October 15 - Strategy 3.0

We have not talked about the strategy to tackle COVID-19 since April

( Thought of the Day - April 27 - Strategy 2.0 ). That said, the three strategies: Lock ‘Em Down, Rapid Herd-Immunity, and in the middle Slow the Burn are still the main approaches on the table. Indeed the WHO came out last week against the Lock 'Em Down strategy, citing that it disproportionately hurts the poor, and the collateral impact (suicide, death by preventable disease, starvation etc.) is probably higher than the fatalities from COVID itself. Fearing they still have enough influence to change country policy, the WHO has now come out and said that Rapid Herd-Immunity is not a good strategy either.

So I guess this means Slow the Burn is the thing to do. As presented in April the main tactics are:

• Implement “test, trace and track” swat-teams for outbreaks;

• Scale testing to allow for random sampling of the public;

• Mandatory quarantine for travellers;

• Promote “immunity passports”, “mortality reduction” and “herd-immunity” targets.

Since April there have been definite developments in the first three activities, and now more discussion on the fourth. But, I did omit the most important activity in this list - learn from the 1918 pandemic.

In short, with all of our technology, that is indeed saving lives, the simple things they did then: masks; distancing; hygiene; isolate the vulnerable and symptomatic; restrict travel; no mass gatherings; fresh air; good diet etc., are still the best way to lessen the impact.

Cheers

Cliff