What the U.S. Needs to do Today to Follow South Korea ’s Model for Fighting Coronavirus

The United States has a narrow window of opportunity to determine the fate of its coronavirus crisis. Will we end up looking like Italy or South Korea? Italy’s health system has imploded under the strain of new cases and the shortage of ventilators means doctors must make agonizing decisions on who to save and who to let die. In contrast, South Korea acted swiftly and boldly to “flatten the curve”— the government did everything it could to slow the rate of increase and so reduce the burden of the illness on the country’s clinics and hospitals. Right now, the number of new cases of confirmed infection in the U.S. is doubling every four days. This puts us on a trajectory towards becoming Italy. On March 16, a research team at Imperial College London published a new study suggesting that without taking control measures, there would be about 2.2 million deaths in the U.S. We could still avoid this catastrophic scenario. We will need to act urgently, ruthlessly, and aggressively to adopt five key measures that helped to flatten the curve in places like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea. Testing, Testing, Testing The nationwide shortage of coronavirus test kits here in the U.S. is not just a disgrace, it is emblematic of a country totally ill prepared to fight a deadly pandemic. Right now, with so little testing, we are shooting in the dark when it comes to our control efforts. It’s the equivalent of a surgeon trying to do an opera...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news