Andy Slavitt, the former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has recently explained how the country could overcome the pandemic.
Slavitt, who worked under President Barack Obama, took to Twitter to explain how the United States can “virtually eliminate” the coronavirus “any time we decide to.”
In a series of tweets, the 53-year-old broke down things that could be done to “manage the illness.”
He said the nation could “throw the kitchen sink at COVID-19” in a matter of four to six weeks. He listed everything that can be done to stop the spread of the virus.
Slavitt went on to say that if the nation follows those steps, “the light at the end of the tunnel would be blinding.”
He first tweeted, “We can virtually eliminate the virus any time we decide to. We can be back to a reasonably normal existence: schools, travel, job growth, safer nursing homes & other settings. And we could do it in a matter of weeks. If we want to.”
He then explained that other hard-hit countries, especially Europe, have given the United States the essential tools to combat the virus.
In his four-to-six-week “kitchen sink” plan, Slavitt proposed six steps that the nation could follow immediately “with the goal of being open for business in October — meaning schools, in person voting, sports, everything.”
Slavitt wrote:
“So let’s define the kitchen sink:
1. Start with universal mask wearing. We didn’t do this in Mar-April and let’s chalk it up to faulty instructions. But we know better now.
2. Keep the bars & restaurants & churches & transit closed. All hot spots.
3. Prohibit interstate travel.
4. Prohibit travel into the country (no one will let us into their country so that shouldn’t be hard).
5. Have hotels set up to allow people with symptoms to isolate from their families at no cost.
6. Instead of 50% lockdown (which is what we did in March in April), let’s say it’s a 90% lockdown.
Meaning most of the Americans who couldn’t stay home in April because they were picking crops or driving trucks or working in health care would stay home with us.”
The former Obama administration health official acknowledged that the nation’s “economy would take a several week hit” with this plan and “extended unemployment insurance” would be a necessity.
So far, the United States has reported more than 4.4 million cases of COVID-19, with officials reporting over 150,000 deaths. Globally, the virus has sickened more than 16 million people and killed over 656,000. President Donald Trump has been criticized for mishandling the ongoing crisis, although he has repeatedly been saying that the pandemic will “go away.”
