USA Today - 03.04.2020

6A ❚ FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2020❚ USA TODAY NEWS

HIDDEN COMMON GROUND SOLUTIONS

fight it – by following the advice of the

World Health Organization and the U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and Preven-

tion to wash our hands and stay at home

as much as possible.

I keep thinking about what Gov. Jay

Inslee said Saturday when he urged

Washington residents to tape a photo of

a nurse to their dashboard and ask

themselves before leaving the house:

“Do I really want to put this person at

risk?”

One day, you may need that nurse.

Until then, that nurse needs you.

Poverty compounds disease; we

need to prioritize needs of

poorest and most vulnerable

Although handwashing and physical

distancing are the most important

tools we have to stop the spread of

COVID-19, they are not available to ev-

eryone equally.

It’s hard to maintain good hand hy-

giene when you live without running

water in a tent city in Seattle or a town-

ship in Cape Town, South Africa. It is

nearly impossible to practice physical

distancing when you share a single

room with five family members in a

crowded neighborhood in Delhi, India.

If you’re a grocery store worker who

lives one paycheck away from eviction,

making the decision to call in sick until

your sore throat goes away comes with

an enormous price.

Prioritizing the needs of the poorest

and most vulnerable people – in this

country and around the world – is es-

sential to stopping transmission and

bringing this pandemic to an end for ev-

eryone.

Men and women experience

disease outbreaks differently

COVID-19 appears to have a higher

mortality rate among men, and we need

to learn why. But its broader impact

will likely fall disproportionately on

women.

Women make up roughly 70% of the

world’s health and social sector

workforce, and they perform, on aver-

age, more than twice as much unpaid

caregiving as men do. Whether at a hos-

pital or at home, women’s role in taking

care of others increases their risk for in-

fection.

What’s more, because women are

overrepresented in the lowest-paying

sectors, they are especially vulnerable

in times of recession. When health sys-

tems are strained, maternal mortality

rates rise. And as emergency respond-

ers in China’s Hubei Province can attest,

when women are locked at home with

abusive partners, domestic violence

goes up.

Inevitably, some people will argue

that we should table conversations

about gender equality until we get

through this emergency. But the disease

and its effects are not gender neutral.

Our response cannot be either.

You are making enormous

sacrifices for others, and you will

see that they are doing the same

for you

Americans are being called on in ex-

traordinary ways. And make no mis-

take: Your actions matter. They have

likely already saved lives.

While, as experts expected, the num-

ber of cases is still going up for now,

there is evidence that places that have

adopted physical distancing are already

seeing the rate of disease transmission

start to decrease. The curve you’ve

heard so much about is indeed going to

flatten – and if you’re following experts’

advice, you’re part of the reason why.

You may have seen a video that has

been shared around the world, a stirring

rendition of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”

performed by the Rotterdam Philhar-

monic Orchestra. In better times, this

renowned orchestra performs shoulder-

to-shoulder in a concert hall that seats

more than 2,000. In this video, each

musician is alone, at home, playing to

an empty room. I read that it took a

week of editing to combine the individ-

ual recordings, and the effect is stun-

ning.

What is most moving to me, though,

is imagining the measure of faith the

performers summoned as they tested

out lighting and acoustics and camera

angles – and prepared to play their

hearts out in time with an orchestra

they couldn’t hear for an audience vis-

ible only in their imaginations.

That is the position many of us find

ourselves in now, too – alone, at home,

contributing whatever it is we have to

contribute and trusting that others are

doing the same.

In the weeks ahead, as the number of

new cases starts to drop, we will have

proof to substantiate our faith that each

one of us was part of something much

bigger all along.

Melinda Gates is co-founder of the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with

her husband Bill Gates.

ALL OF US NEED TO CONTRIBUTE WHAT WE HAVE TO GIVE

Your actions now can help save lives

Experts and frontline

health workers are rising

to meet this challenge –

and counting on you to

do the same

Melinda Gates

Special to USA TODAY

I spend a lot of time these days on
video calls with our foundation’s CO-
VID-19 response team.
Between those meetings, I check in
on friends confronting the disease first-
hand. One moment, I receive updates on
disease-tracking models. The next, I
hear that someone I know is struggling
to breathe.
Our foundation is no stranger to dis-
ease outbreaks. We have worked on ef-
forts to combat HIV, tuberculosis, ma-
laria and Ebola. But we’ve never faced a
crisis of this magnitude in our own
backyard.
The world typically rotates on its axis
at about 1,000 miles an hour. For many
of us now, it feels like it’s spinning a
million miles an hour. Here is some
guidance drawn from evidence and
experience that may help us find our
footing:
Our foundation has swiftly deployed
funding and expertise to support a wide
range of responses, and every day
brings new reasons for optimism.
Although it likely will be at least 18
months before a vaccine is available,
multiple vaccine efforts are moving for-
ward at full speed, several led by the Co-
alition for Epidemic Preparedness
Innovations, which our foundation
helped create in 2017.
To identify and test promising treat-
ments, we recently helped launch a
Therapeutics Accelerator that connects
experts to the resources they need to
move quickly.
And just last week, the results of a
study we helped design led the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration to ap-
prove a new safer, faster and less inva-
sive testing method that may accelerate
widespread testing.
In the meantime, all of us can do our
part to slow the spread of this disease –
and buy time for the people helping us to

Health care worker Ludnie Emile prepares to test people for COVID-19 at their

drive-thru coronavirus testing station March 19 in Palm Springs, Fla.

GREG LOVETT/THE PALM BEACH POST VIA USA TODAY NETWORK

with rapid results, at least 750,000 a

week.

We need to test for antibodies,

known as serological testing, because if

you’ve had the virus, even asymptoti-

cally, it appears unlikely that you’ll get it

again – and you may be able to go back

to work safely.

Here’s the good news: In the last

week, the Food and Drug Administra-

tion is cranking out approvals for large-

scale, rapid testing, including ones that

can be done in a matter of minutes. This

will help us identify “hot spots,” allow us

to flatten the curve, and manage the fu-

ture progression of the virus.

We also need mass production of

personal protective equipment, not only

for our front-line health care workers

and first responders, who are putting

their lives on the line to protect us, but

also to use in grocery stores, ride-shar-

ing vehicles and others jobs where you

have close contact.

Thankfully, large quantities of these

items – from masks to gloves – are be-

coming available every day, but we still

face a shortage of ventilators and other

essential goods. We need to replenish

our Strategic National stockpile at a rea-

sonable level, increase hospital bed ca-

pacity to handle another potential out-

break, and add more health care work-

ers – doctors, nurses and technicians –

to meet growing demand.

Health care workers need relief

Our front-line health care workers

are exhausted and becoming infected

themselves. The Federal Emergency

Management Agency and the Defense

Department are pitching in with medics

wherever they can, and retirees are vol-

unteering, but that’s only a temporary

fix. We need to mitigate our long-term

staffing challenges.

Second, we must keep our busi-

nesses in business to protect the pay-

checks of workers who desperately

need them, and continue to provide un-

employment checks to our workforce

that has been displaced.

The CARES Act certainly will help,

but time is not on our side, especially for

small businesses. We may need a fourth

emergency package, especially if the vi-

rus keeps doors closed

longer than expected or if

we need to address gaps

in our earlier legislation.

We may also need longer-

term stimulus invest-

ment, such as a signifi-

cant infrastructure pack-

age as we have called on

for some time.

Third, we must antic-

ipate the challenges

associated with turning

the lights back on. We

can’t let the pandemic

crush one of America’s

greatest assets: the col-

lective training, skill-set, grit, know-

how and connectivity that has enabled

our workers and businesses to flourish.

Even with the CARES Act, many of

our businesses – small, medium and

large – will face a serious liquidity short-

age, and with America sequestered, a

lack of demand for their products and

services.

Rebuild America’s supply chains

The COVID-19 outbreak has exposed

deep vulnerabilities and highlighted the

urgency of shoring up critical supply

chains. Over several decades, vital

American manufacturing operations

have moved overseas – from medical

devices and equipment – to pharma-

ceuticals. Reversing this trend won't be

easy. It will take serious policy changes

to help reverse it.

Finally, the current crisis is strain-

ing local, state and federal govern-

ments far beyond what we initially

predicted. The precipitous drop in eco-

nomic activity has cratered sales tax,

income tax and even property taxes,

while the demands on

government are causing

the spending side to bal-

loon. We must help stabi-

lize all levels of govern-

ment, or it will further

threaten the delivery of

vital services. Our federal

government also will

need to figure out a long-

term way to debate and

vote virtually.

In the end, it’s clear

we cannot have a one-

size-fits-all approach. It’s

important that we assess

the threat of the virus re-

gion by region and consider reopening

in phases or by industry. Denser city

populations will have demands that ru-

ral America will not, and vice versa. Re-

gardless of the scenario, the more we

plan and execute today, the better off we

will be tomorrow.

We must come together, work togeth-

er and stand together – socially dis-

tanced, of course – to put country over

political party. That’s the way to beat

this virus and the economic storm gath-

ering on the horizon.

Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and

Tom Reed, R-N.Y., are co-chairs of the bi-

partisan Problem Solvers Caucus.

WE MUST FIRST SHOW THAT THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM CAN MEET PUBLIC NEEDS

How to reopen America after the pandemic

It’s important that we

assess the threat of the

virus region by region

and consider reopening

in phases or by industry

The COVID-

outbreak has

exposed deep

vulnerabilities

and highlighted

the urgency of

shoring up critical

supply chains.

The Problem Solvers Caucus – 50
members of Congress, half Democrat
and half Republicans, from across
America – has met via video conference
nearly every day to debate and govern
during the coronavirus pandemic.
In recent days, we’ve turned to a
common theme in our Zoom meetings:
the health challenges that must be over-
come to safely and quickly reopen the
country and minimize the economic
hurricane coming ashore.
The health and economic rescue
package signed into law last week will
certainly help people and businesses in
the short run. But there is only so long
we can go on this way. We are proposing
the following framework to provide light
in the darkness ahead.
First, we must ensure the health
crisis is safely managedand America
is safe enough to reopen. We must
demonstrate that our health care
system can meet the needs of our peo-
ple, both day-to-day and in case new
“hot zones” develop in the future. To
achieve this, we will need mass testing

Rep. Josh Gottheimer
and Rep. Tom Reed
Special to USA TODAY