COVID Update March 31: I spent the day trying to assess some of the greatest needs we have & what the Federal government could be solving now.

Yesterday was about our challenge. Today is about solutions. 1/

I’m going to begin with the priorities that the Administration should announce & then turn to what they can do to address them.

I’m not looking to generate “good luck” or “yeah right” responses (though feel free of course). Rather to report on it & push the Administration.2/

Here are 20 priorities

1. Save every life possible
2. Feed & house Americans using our empty hotels & restaurants
3. Protect our front-line care providers as a special class
4. Protect the financial health of small businesses
5. Keep primary care physicians up
3/

6. Roll out a strategy to protect the most vulnerable communities
7. Significantly improve production of PPE and
8. Stamp out & jail profiteering
9. Create national standards for distancing, essential workforce, travel & business openings. 4/

Liquor delivery just showed up. Time out.

10. Call on American companies & philanthropists to do what it takes.
11. Create a national testing leadership team and strategy.
12. Restore dismantled command & control structure.
13. Create transparent national reporting of cases, hospitalizations & community readiness 5/

Time out again. They left out the cherries. How do you do Old Fashioneds without them? Tips welcome. All kinds of crap on our shelves.

14. Create the largest ever national volunteerism movement to meet the needs of people.
15. Address the non-COVID clinical needs of Americans.
16. Launch a national mental health infrastructure
17. Integrate and coordinate medical resources between community, VA, DOD hospitals6/

18. Suspend foreclosures, evictions & bankruptcies.
19. Meet the specific needs of the disability community.
20. Convene scientists to oversee & implement discoveries quickly, transparently, and equitably 7/

I left out a few important ones but these are most. I can’t make these threads any more tortuous to read than they already are. 8/

Liquor store-cherries update: @somuchweirdness has donned a face scarf & gloves & is driving to a liquor store 2 towns away to get the cherries since the store is empty.

I’d marry her over 1000 times.
#SexiestWomanAlive

Will be back in 15 minutes as a sereology expert just called to update me on testing rollout next week.

Back soon. Sorry.

OK. Good call w @jhuber. Heard some good news, some bad news, and some future good news on testing. I will cover tomorrow. Thread too long already tonight.

1. Save every life possible:
-Stop throwing around “acceptable” numbers
-Dramatically take up #StayHome measures with CLEAR national standards. There IS a right answer. Use it
-Use stadium capacity for ICUs everywhere
-Spread life saving best practices
-Speed therapies early 12/

2. Feed & house every American
-Govt should buy meals from local restaurants and deliver free to low income, subsidized to millions
-Fill the hotels w housing insecure
-Buy fresh farm production surplus & deliver
-Enhance SNAP by multiples
-NO breadlines in this crisis13/

Got to make a cocktail and have a video drink with my mom. Rest of thread wil be delayed but more entertaining.

3. Protect our health care workforce
-Make their safety our first priority. Backstop 2 billion orders of N95 masks
-Make health care workers a special class eligible for benefits, child care & support
-Push Congress to pay $5k/m stripend
-Do not sleep until they’re safe15/

4. Protect the health of small businesses
-Prevent creditors for closing businesses
-Create grants to allow businesses to go online
-Expand the small business loans to all businesses who keep their employees hired
-Tax large employers who lay-off employees & pay exec bonuses 14/

5. Keep primary care physicians up
-Move all non-COVID care to safe settings
-Have insurance companies pledge to frontload payments to medical profession (they are flush as people avoid doctors)
-Allow every physician to join a telemedicine platform with full payment
15/

6. Vulnerable populations
-Reinstall Obama-era nursing home infection control
-Depopulate prisons
-Provide resources to multi-generational households
-Create special resources to identify & serve chronic populations at home
-Group homes, foster homes, Sect 8

18/

By the way here’s the first Old Fashioned I’ve ever made.

Unrelated: Ben Carson is a bad man. Onward.

7. PPE

-This will come up a few times
-Buy 2 billion masks. End the black market
-Stop the stupid trade wars and buy the fine mesh in China
-S Korea and Philippines have a huge surplus
-See point 8

Quick question: should I stop at 10 tonight and do the other 10 tomorrow?

Also, second Old Fashinoed?

8- Stamp out & jail profiteering
-As we empty the prisons there will be plenty of room to shove in the people running warehouses of N95 masks at 8x the price
-Bit topic on In the Bubble tomorrow (did I ever tweet about that?)
-This is a bit of an obsession

22/

9. Create national standards for distancing, essential workforce, travel
-States rights... ok now let’s be a country
-People travel across state borders
-6 feet is 6 feet, home is home, essential is essential. Just say it. Enforce it. Save lives. Then heal together.23/

10. Call on American companies & philanthropies to step up
-The Federal government wont meet every need. Some of the greatest fortunes ever acculukated at righ here, right now
-What exactly are these fortunes for but to serve the poor NOW, to invest in big bet inventions NOW?
23/

Mr Pillow & all the Presidential buddies need to put their money together establish Carnegie, Gates type legacy. Who is on the sidelines? Why? If not now, when?

We don’t have the inspirational leadership of a president. We’ve known that for 4 years. 24/

Doesn’t mean others can’t lead.

Let tweet number 25 of the March 31 thread change the tone of this country.

Checking on whether to continue now. 25/

Its been decided for me. I just got a call from one of the largest companies who wants to create a “ventilator brigade” (also my favorite musical) to bring vents from city to city to city. They want some help from me, starting in 15 minutes.

So here’s where we are...

-I will add the other 10 tweets tomorrow
-I will take this call & help. It’s a good idea that’s part of my suggestion anyway
-I already had OF #2
-Some of you will harass me; others are already asleep

Also... 26/

I am not going to promote In the Bubble. I don’t care if you download & listen. Not at all. It doesn’t matter to me. Even though my proceeds go to the COVID Relief Fund. Even though it’s really good.

But if you insist on subscribing: http://smarturl.it/inthebubble  /end