"One thing to keep in mind is the shutdown started because the New York City health system was on the verge of collapse. At least that was what it looked like," Mr. Grogan said.
"Then we were worried about other health systems shutting down." The economic shutdowns reduced the number of cases but proved to be a blunt instrument, with massive job losses, permanent business closures and excess deaths from a host of causes as people put off regular health screenings or treatments.
"We must fix the flaws in our public health system, empower scientific leadership to take proactive actions and have a delimited framework for how to use blunt tools when all other options are exhausted." As the 2020 shutdowns dragged on, hopes for widespread, rapid testing or other strategies that would disrupt chains of transmission never materialized.
President Biden's request for $6.5 billion to create the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which would investigate cures for cancer and other diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer's, could be the right avenue.
The proposed agency would be housed under the National Institutes of Health, which collaborated with the private sector on rapid, point-of-care tests and COVID-19 vaccines that were developed and tested in record time.
"Every moment counts in a pandemic, and I'd like to see us maintain a permanent capability to leverage federal investment and expertise to better anticipate and respond to public health emergencies and other threats we face." Disease experts caution that the death toll, as bad as it was, could have been worse without limits on social interaction during the wait for pharmaceutical fixes, namely the COVID-19 vaccines.
The U.S. resorted to shutdowns because it lacked a public health system that could test, trace or isolate diseases, said John Hopkins' Dr. Adalja.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/may/3/long-pandemic-lockdowns-not-answer-lawmakers-docto/
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