Down With the Covid-19 Virus, Up With the Economy

Blog initially published on my LinkedIn profile ( https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/down-covid-19-virus-up-economy-tom-frieden/?published=t )

We all want two things: to get back to work and to as normal a life as possible and to not endanger the health of ourselves, our loved ones, and others. Personally, I can’t wait to get back to the gym. The better we control the virus, the sooner we can restart our economy because to protect livelihoods, we must protect lives. And the quicker we get back to work, the healthier we will be.

Last week, Resolve to Save Lives released a four-level, color-coded alert system for COVID-19 that could be implemented by city, state, and national governments — with wide consultation within society.

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This alert system can achieve three objectives:

  1. It empowers people to protect themselves and their families. There are times when older adults and people with serious health conditions should be extra careful to avoid infection. And businesses, schools, health care facilities, nursing homes, and others need practical information on what they can do at different levels of risk.

  2. It holds government – and all of us – accountable. 

  3. It can accelerate progress on reducing risk by focusing on crucially important things we can do to restore economic activity and fight the virus without rekindling the pandemic.

By adopting an alert-level approach, we can empower people, hold governments accountable, and accelerate progress. We can recover our economy without risking our lives.