The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Obama’s administration says when it boils down to containing a pandemic, being prepared is the first and last step.
Dr. Tom Frieden oversaw responses to the H1N1 influenza, Ebola, and Zika epidemics, today he works as President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives. His organization has released an online interactive report titled “Epidemics That Didn’t Happen.” It finds that swift action and prepared and coordinated response can stop or at least mitigate horrific outcomes of possible pandemics -- such as what has happened in the last year and four months with the COVID-19 virus.
“I visited Uganda during one of the outbreaks detailed in this report, when that country prevented the 2018 Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from expanding across the border,” Frieden writes for CNN health.
“As soon as the original outbreak was declared in DRC, Uganda activated its national emergency preparedness and response systems. It quickly trained health care staff to detect and treat Ebola, opened multiple Ebola Treatment Centers, and established rapid testing laboratories near the DRC border, where all people entering the country were screened for symptoms.”
Frienden suggests countries use the "7-1-7" goal.” “Whereby every country should be able to: identify any suspected outbreak within seven days of emergence; report and begin investigation and response within one day; and mount an effective response -- defined by objective benchmarks -- within seven days.”
He adds that the response to Covid, specifically in the U.S., UK, and even many European countries, has “largely been one of failure” or at the very least one of “inaction and inappropriate action.”
“Even when governments committed to action based on scientific evidence, measures such as universal masking, physical distancing and economic support for affected populations weren't implemented quickly or extensively enough in many countries, and were often relaxed too soon. Fundamentally, countries need to have strong public health systems, and responsible governance,” Frieden writes.
He says countries such as Vietnam, Mongolia and Senegal, learned lessons from previous outbreaks and responded accordingly. “By contrast, Brazil did not apply its knowledge from yellow fever control to fight Covid. Rapid detection, effective community engagement, an organized, science-based response, and timely, accurate, and empathetic communication are effective tools that help any response.”
Frieden’s report primarily discusses the epidemics that never became pandemics, but he writes that the frightening truth is that another COVID could be just around the bend, and although the next virus could be deadlier than even than the coronavirus, it could also be tamped down before becoming a full-blown raging pandemic if the world unites to invest and our institutions prepare themselves.