34 BARRON’S October 26, 2020
OTHER VOICES
Investments in three areas—masks, digital health,
and tools that enable physical distancing—could
help with Covid-19 and future epidemics.
America Needs an
Operation Warp
Speed for Masks, Too
P
harmaceuticals have a
major weakness in the
fight against emerging
infectious diseases:
They are slow to make
it through the innova-
tion pipeline. Vaccines
and therapeutics may save lives even-
tually, but for now America needs
other defenses against Covid-19.
Our best option is the collection of
tools we have relied on since the pan-
demic started, collectively known as
nonpharmaceutical interventions, or
NPIs. This catchall category includes
everything that isn’t a vaccine or
therapeutic, such as masks and dis-
tancing strategies. Unlike with phar-
maceuticals, the U.S. government
hasn’t adopted a strategic approach
to assessing the technology needs for
NPIs; innovation funding has been
scattershot and relatively paltry. This
is a missed opportunity, because
NPIs are our most potent weapons
right now.
Nonpharmaceutical doesn’t
mean nontechnological. Investments
in three areas—masks, digital health,
and tools that enable physical
distancing—could help with
Covid-19 and future epidemics.
Start with masks. When fitted
properly, studies show that the N95
respirator mask captures 95% of air-
borne particles, including potentially
dangerous viruses and bacteria, and
provides significant protection to the
wearer. But limited supply has kept it
chiefly reserved for use by the health-
care workforce. Cloth masks made
with layered materials are widely
available. But while they provide
robust protection to others, they offer
only modest self-protection for the
wearer.
Imagine a mask with N95 protec-
tive capacity that could be sterilized
and reused. That would be a game
changer. If such masks were widely
adopted and combined with other
precautions, Americans could return
to many indoor activities at greatly
reduced risk. Researchers at the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology
and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
have already designed a mask of this
sort: It is made of silicone rubber,
includes one or two detachable N95
filters, and can be reused many
times. The U.S. government should
be funding a portfolio of research
investments in better masks like this,
just as it has for Covid-19 vaccine
candidates.
Digital health tools can help with
the ultimate goal: for individuals not
to get sick. Artificial-intelligence-
powered symptom checkers can help
patients perform “self triage.” Wear-
ables, sensors, and other tools can
capture biometric information in real
time. Personalized genomic analysis
can be incorporated along with rapid
point-of-care diagnostics to quickly
identify potential infection. These
technologies can empower individu-
als in directing their own care, leav-
ing hospitals and clinics available for
those most in need of medical inter-
ventions and in-person monitoring.
Such digital health inputs also can be
useful in monitoring the health of
eventual vaccine recipients.
These tools will require an inte-
grated data infrastructure, along with
privacy and security assurances. A
fully integrated and deployed digital
backbone would give us a real-time
view into which communities are at
risk, and where decision makers
should send resources.
A constellation of technologies
also could improve physical distanc-
ing. Widespread shutdowns are a
blunt and costly instrument. To allow
for targeted physical distancing in-
stead, we would need disease detec-
tion and forecasting of local Covid-19
prevalence. We would need technol-
ogy for data fusion and analysis to
unify disparate inputs. And we
would need the means to present
these data to the general public.
Picture a Covid-19 disease fore-
casting app on your phone that you
could check before leaving the house,
much like a weather app. The app
could help you decide whether to go
into the office or work from home.
Perhaps you get a quick recommen-
dation on whether or not to fly for a
business trip or send your child to
school. With directed investments in
digital health capabilities, and the
data infrastructure needed to support
them, it is possible to envision the
use of these tools in the coming year
as we transition toward the availabil-
ity of a vaccine.
But remember that Covid-19 vac-
cines won’t be a magic bullet. We will
need these disease alerting functions
for the foreseeable future to manage
Covid-19, as well as the next emerg-
ing outbreak, which could be just
around the corner.
Operation Warp Speed has pro-
vided high-level strategy, an inte-
grated approach, and up to $18 bil-
lion in funding for Covid-19 vaccines
and therapeutics. There has been no
similar program for nonpharmaceuti-
cal interventions, and the result is a
landscape with small pockets of inno-
vative research and untapped oppor-
tunities. A U.S. government initiative
focused on supporting technological
innovation for Covid-19 NPIs would
help now and have a lasting return
on investment for future pandemics.
It need not be as large as Operation
Warp Speed.
A strategic approach accompanied
by even modest funding would reap
dividends. New vaccines and thera-
peutics offer the promise of protec-
tion in the future, but NPIs protect
us today.B
Joseph Buccina is a director at In-Q-Tel’s
B.Next, a strategic initiative focused on
biotechnology and national security. Dan
Hanfling is an emergency physician and
a vice president on the technical staff at
In-Q-Tel.
By Joseph Buccina
and Dan Hanfling
We’re pouring bil-
lions into pharma-
ceutical research.
Masks and other
nonpharmaceutical
interventions also
need support. Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images