THREAD: A transition is underway to address impact of #COVID19 in U.S. We're doing a lot of things right, and while there will be epidemic spread in America, we can still limit the scope and preserve life. There's still a lot to be done. But our current vigilance serves us well
We’re still early in course of spread. But if we do things right, peak cases will stay below point where the healthcare system gets exhausted, and we’ll preserve life. We could turn the corner in late April, when the epidemic curve could start to decline cnbc.com/video/2020/03/…
Actions by governors is cause for optimism. States are taking this very seriously. Measures to limit mixing of people by closing bars, restaurants, venues; and those taken by businesses to keep employees at home where possible, will undoubtably impact the scope of this epidemic.
We're in better shape than China at comparable point in epidemic. China took 6 weeks between identification of community spread to lock down Wuhan. Hospitalizations didn’t peak for another four weeks. We identified our community spread earlier and taking aggressive steps earlier
We must focus on hospital capacity. We must unburden hospitals wherever possible, and quickly expand hospital capacity to care for a potential surge in the number of very sick patients in cities like New York and Seattle. We need to expand beds capable of delivering critical care
We won’t be out of woods once this epidemic passes. Transmission may fall away in the summer, but be back in the fall. We need to work on the toolbox needed to address fall outbreaks. That means getting a drug, prophylaxis, and point of care diagnostic to identify cases quickly.
We have hard days ahead. We can’t become complacent. But the collective action of states and businesses to mitigate spread will have a tangible impact on spread. We need to continue these actions, and protect vulnerable Americans from the impact of these necessary actions.
That means direct assistance for Americans who can't go without paycheck. It also means caring for problems that could be forgotten as we take mitigation steps which may keep some caregivers on the sidelines, especially for elderly. We must watch for that. wsj.com/articles/congr…
We’re a week into hard transition that nation must make to confront a once in generation pathogen. We’ll remember spring of 2020 as a very hard time. It’ll change the way we do things, but it will end either by nature or at hand of our technology. We'll get through this together.
