At this point, COVID-19 is a
It is in most countries of the world,
it is all over the United States,
and it is too late for us to try to contain the virus
but we can mitigate it,
meaning that we can reduce the rate of transmission,
we can change the trajectory of the virus' spread
and we can save lives.
COVID-19 is a new virus.
There's a lot that we are beginning to find out about it
and there's a lot that we just don't know.
We just don't know
if there is going to be a seasonal pattern with COVID-19.
There are some other viruses
that tend to peak in the wintertime
and then decrease in the summer,
but we have no idea if COVID-19
is going to be following that pattern.
We can't count on it because we just don't know
and so we need to account for COVID-19
continuing to escalate
even in the coming warmer weather months.
None of us have immunity to it because it's new
and because there is
the only thing that we have is prevention,
to try to prevent the spread of this disease
from person to person.
What we need is testing for anyone who has symptoms
and in general for surveillance
so that we understand what is the real rate of spread
and the degree of spread here in our communities.
We also need treatment.
We need treatment for everyone who needs it,
people can not be priced out of the ability to have care.
And we need everyone
to practice aggressive social distancing.
If the virus has nowhere to spread,
it will not infect anyone
and we can stop the virus in its tracks
as long as all of us practice staying at home,
and not just for those of us who are ill,
not just for those who are more susceptible,
but everyone should stay at home
and away from others as much as possible,
because if we can stop the transmission of COVID-19
from person to person,
or at least reduce that rate,
then we can avoid overwhelming our hospitals
all at the same time.
who get COVID-19
will recover with mild symptoms.
They do not need in-hospital care,
so think about the cold or the flu,
they'll recover with symptomatic management at home.
About 15% may need hospital care
and about 5% need intensive care.
The biggest fear right now in the U.S.
and in other countries around the world is that
hospitals do not have the capacity
to take in all the critically ill patients
who may need care at the same time.
Then we have to look forward
because this is a pandemic,
this is something that has killed and will continue to kill
many of our citizens,
but this will not be the last outbreak
that we will ever have
and if it's anything that COVID-19 has shown us,
it's that we are
as a country and as a world to outbreaks like this.
We need investment in our public health infrastructure.
There's a saying that public health saved your life today,
you just don't know it.
The work of public health, by definition,
is invisible because we succeed
when we have prevented something from happening.
There are all these outbreaks that you've never heard of
and all these pandemics that could have happened
but didn't because of the work
that public health does every single day.
We need urgent investment in public health.
Public health is always the first thing
on the chopping block because, by definition,
it's something that can't normally be seen
and now we are experiencing the effects
of what happens when we do not have systemic investments
in our public health infrastructure.
We can not just be looking at public health
when something happens
because public health is about prevention,
it's about preventing this outbreak
to occur in the first place
and we also have to recognize that diseases
know no boundaries
and that if we are to invest in public health,
we also have to invest in global public health
and understand that public health, national security,
health and well-being, and safety
are all integrally intertwined.