Read on Twitter
CDC, FEMA have created a plan to reopen America. Here’s what it says. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/14/cdc-fema-have-created-plan-reopen-america-heres-what-it-says/
"Their strategy...is part of larger White House effort...to get Americans back to work. It gives guidance to state and local governments on how they can ease mitigation efforts, moving from restrictions such as stay-at-home orders in a phased way to support a safe reopening."
The plan lays out three phases:
1. Preparing the nation to reopen with a national communication campaign and community readiness assessment until May 1.
1. Preparing the nation to reopen with a national communication campaign and community readiness assessment until May 1.
2. Then, the effort through May 15 would involve ramping up manufacturing of testing kits and personal protective equipment and increasing emergency funding.
3. Then staged reopenings would begin, depending on local conditions. The plan does not give dates for reopenings but specified “not before May 1.”"
"The first priority is to “reopen settings where children are cared for, including K-12 schools...to allow workforce to return to work. Other community settings will follow with careful monitoring for increased transmission that exceeds the public health and health care systems.”
"The document also says that during phased reopenings, it is critical to strictly follow recommendations on hand-washing and wearing face coverings in group settings."
"The plan also carries this warning: “Models indicate 30-day shelter in place followed by 180 day lifting of all mitigation results in large rebound curve — some level of mitigation will be needed until vaccines or broad community immunity is achieved for recovering communities.”
The document says reopening communities in this phased approach “will entail a significant risk of resurgence of the virus.” Any reopening must meet four conditions:
- Incidence of infection is “genuinely low.”
- Incidence of infection is “genuinely low.”
- “well functioning” monitoring system capable of “promptly detecting any increase in incidence”
- public health system that is “reacting robustly” to all cases of covid-19 and has surge capacity to react to an increase in cases.
- public health system that is “reacting robustly” to all cases of covid-19 and has surge capacity to react to an increase in cases.
- A health system that has enough inpatient beds and staffing to rapidly scale up and deal with a surge in cases.
#1 and #2 is my concern. We do not, at current time, have local or state infrastructure to do either.
#1 and #2 is my concern. We do not, at current time, have local or state infrastructure to do either.
In toto, this looks like a thoughtful road map to reopening. I doubt the May 1 deadline is anything but aspirational...and it really is not achievable. But they are asking, and trying to answer, all of the right questions.
Full document linked below. https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/focus-on-the-future-going-to-work-for-america/89ccccbc-7bf0-48d3-8f0c-275494a3b009/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_7
Full document linked below. https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/focus-on-the-future-going-to-work-for-america/89ccccbc-7bf0-48d3-8f0c-275494a3b009/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_7
