This weeks video reviews the recently released COVID19 action plan from President Biden that included
💉Vaccines (and mandates)
😷Testing and Mask requirements
🦠Booster shots
🎓Schools
💰Economic recovery
🏥Improving care for those with COVID
We take a look at the background to these action s and the timing and dig into the mandates for vaccination and who this applies to and what it will mean to business. Does the greater good of healthcare in this case outweigh the individual freedoms that are so important in this country. At this point I think everyone can agree we want our world and lives to return to some level of normality even if that is somewhat different to what we called normal in 2019.
We talk about the public health mandate of testing which is an integral part of the ‘Swiss cheese’ strategy and why testing has to be widely and freely available. And in this case that’s both accessible and at zero cost to the individual.
The Best Available Option is always available – perfect almost never is
Raw Transcript
Nick van Terheyden
Hi, this is Dr. Nick, I’m the incrementalist here with incremental insights for better business better health.
Fred Goldstein
And I’m Fred Goldstein with accountable health here helping employers and health systems work around population health and improving the health of their employees. So Nick, big announcement this week, everyone been waiting for it, the president holds a press conference and brings out his path out of the pandemic, the COVID-19 action plan. Now, let me start out by saying we’re not attorneys, we don’t know the legalities of this or the constitutionality of these decisions. There certainly be lost, certainly lawsuits you’ve already seen that announced. But within this, there were six areas of focus. And we’re going to dive into a few of those today, just a couple that were vaccines, booster shots, schools, testing and mask requirements, economic recovery and improving care for those with COVID. So six in total. So first off, Nick, why now? What made it that the President said I’ve got to come out with this really substantial package?
Nick van Terheyden
Well, aside from the fact that I think he said, we’ve had enough. And I think he’s channeling all of our thoughts around this, we have, we felt like we had a pathway out. We’ve had the tools, we’ve known what to do since 1920, whatever it was, we’ve got additional capabilities. Yet, despite all that, we’ve seen this recurrence and, you know, we were all opening up and then suddenly, we’re back in, and I think it’s moved from, you know, individual this, I keep hearing my individual rights. But at some point your individual rights are overtaken by the group requirement for the better community, the health, there are things that we don’t like doing. And you know, seatbelts is often one that’s used as an analogy here. And we’re at this point, we’re mandating seatbelts, you have to wear a seatbelt in the front of a car, I think you have to wear it in the back, I think with the same here, right?
Fred Goldstein
Yeah. And I think also, what we’ve seen is a huge amount of hospitalizations, and deaths. And neither preventable. Much of this is preventable with vaccinations. So let’s start there with vaccines. What did they do, and these are just a few of them, they mandated for all federal workers, and their contractors, which is interesting, I’m hearing some responses, obviously, from the aerospace industry and others, employers with 100 or more employees. Now, this is not truly a mandate, because there’s an opt out, weekly testing is required, it’s going to be an OSHA emergency requirement. But the devil, again, is going to be in the details who pays for these tests, but it is framed appropriately, it’s protection for the workers, they’re going to require vaccinations of all healthcare workers. And in the short paragraph not fully announced, I did not see an opt out provision here, as was in the employers over 100, your thoughts on these?
Nick van Terheyden
Well, so again, you know, treading carefully on personal rights, but the greater good here, I think, is the prevailing wisdom. You know, I think people bristle with any kind of mandate, but the reality is, if we’re seeing this failure, and you only have to look around to see people’s reaction to some of the myths and disinformation that is flooding the space. And I have some very personal stories that, you know, I hope we’ll talk about in future weeks for that, essentially, we have to overcome this and finding some pathway to a mandate, and in fact, with the guest house in the case of some of them, where you can test instead. So I’m going to protect others by making sure that I don’t And to be clear, they’re only testing once per week. And you know, there are some instances where we might say two or actually three times per week, and, you know, everybody gets worked up, and they’re finding resistance to that. But the reality is, don’t we all want to be open? And we know the safety record of all these things?
Fred Goldstein
Yeah, I think you’re right on target. This is about an economic recovery issue. I can’t tell you how many small businesses I’ve interacted with in Jacksonville that have had to close because too many people were infected. That’s an economic problem. And then you add on to that potential issues with those people getting hospitalized and healthcare costs or having to see their doctor or monoclonal antibodies, and suddenly you’re racking up expenses, economic output, etc. So I think this is an interesting idea. We’ll see how it goes. Obviously, your point about one test a week versus two or three is an interesting one from a scientific approach to watch over time. And so I know
Nick van Terheyden
I’m gonna be populous for that right. Oh,
Fred Goldstein
for sure. You’ll probably get a few comments that we might see a few things flying through about this. So let’s get on to another area that we’ve discussed before. And it’s fascinating to see it, it’s been pushed for a long time, this idea of rapid testing, at home expansion of testing, affordability, they’re saying maybe Amazon Kroger and Walmart will sell these at cost for individuals over the next three months. What does this get us, Nick? And why is that important?
Nick van Terheyden
Well, so let’s be clear, as part of this whole opening up, you can’t just say I, you know, add cost is great, that’s better than where it was. And, you know, those that track anything, I posted my $350 test bill that I got that, you know, I fought and ultimately disappeared. But, you know, that’s competing with the public good. And this is a public health requirement, I’m saying you need to be tested. My view, and I’m, you know, in conjunction with some folks online, Michael meaner is one of the folks that I see, this should be free, there should be zero cost to this, we should make it widely available, we’re asking people to do it. And if you want people to take the right decision, they have to have access, and Okay, so you can go buy those tests. But what if you don’t have it, if you’re in one of those groups that can’t even afford to buy your medications, or your food or pay for, you know, your the roof over your head, we’re saying, Oh, yeah, just spend another 20 bucks, or whatever it happens to be, that’s a lot of money. And I just think this is wrong, we have to make this available. It’s part of the Swiss cheese strategy that everybody talks about. And it’s essential,
Fred Goldstein
I think you’re right on target with this. And you know, when I came back from hims, actually, I bought a couple of kits, I use them over, I bought two, actually. And I use them over about five days just to ensure quarantine myself back in the room that I was not infected coming back from that event. And it’s interesting, now you can’t find them, you know, I go to Amazon, I can buy a case of these over 1000. But I can’t buy the individual kits anymore. And I think they’re talking about using the military, some of that approach to get industry to produce a lot more of these so we can get them out. Obviously, it’s important that we get them to everybody who needs them, and price is going to be an issue. Hopefully there’s some other distribution strategies, they have to solve some of that problem that doesn’t require an individual to go somewhere, but allows them to get them to their house and do them at their home, where it makes it easier. Anything else you can think about, Nick, when you look at this situation? And what else we might expect from an employee? I mean, I
Nick van Terheyden
applaud the president and you know, his team, I think they’re really focusing, leaning in on this. You know, there are multiple elements, as you rightly defined, I think not all of it is exactly right. And, you know, I think we have to keep moving in the right direction, take as much as we know, and learn and apply that in the right places. And from a business perspective, this is all helpful, I think, in terms of pushing us to that point where we want to be, which is doing all the things that we used to do, quite frankly, without having to wear a mask, but that’s going to require some significant progress.
Fred Goldstein
Absolutely. And I’m going to quote the amazing Dr. Nick, with one of your great statements. There’s never a perfect plan. But there’s always perfect execution. So let’s watch as we execute this because I think you’re right, there are things that are maybe not needed other things that might be in but overall it’s I think, a great first shot and we’ll see where that goes. So this is Fred Goldstein with accountable health. Thanks so much for joining Dr. Nick and myself this week. If you’d like more information, please go to a cannibal health LLC COMM
Nick van Terheyden
And this is Dr. Nick on the incrementalist here with incremental insights for better business, better health.
