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Although the Covid pandemic is still raging around the world, it’s not too early for companies and countries to start applying the lessons learned from this international public health emergency and begin preparing for the next pandemic.

This may be what software company Palantir had in mind when, according to CNBC, it recently hired its first U.S. government chief medical officer, a former executive from IBM’s Watson Health business.

As CNBC reported, “In his new role, Dr. Bill Kassler wants to help put Palantir’s technology in the hands of researchers who can use it to make smart decisions in the next pandemic. Kessler “... highlighted three areas he believes can be improved with the help of tech solutions like Palantir’s: patching supply chain issues, dealing with localized surges of cases, and tackling racial and ethnic disparities,” according to the news outlet.

Since the start of the pandemic, several companies other than hospital systems or traditional healthcare companies, including Tyson Foods Inc. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., have named chief medical officers.

Consulting with experts to help learn from, manage or prepare for a crisis or hiring them outright to be permanent members of your staff, can be a smart thing to do. At the very least, companies should have crisis management plans and response teams in place now and the resources they need to respond and survive the next crisis.

Effective Strategies

The list of Covid-related lessons that have already been learned by corporations and governments continues to grow.

Robert Cottey is a senior analyst at A2 Global Risk, an international security risk management company, and has covered the responses of governments to the pandemic. He noted that, “Countries around the world have taken a range of different strategies to counter the pandemic. The most successful countries, measured by limiting the number of cases and fatalities, have largely followed the same steps.” Cottey said they include:

  • Vastly restricting inbound international travel
  • Maintaining strict international travel restrictions despite low case numbers
  • Limiting domestic journeys
  • Establishing effective testing, contact-tracing, and quarantine regimes
  • Making timely public health interventions, such as enforcing local lockdowns when cases are discovered and mandating the use of face coverings

Failure Factors

Cottey said, “Countries who have failed to learn these lessons, particularly [regarding] the importance of having tight restrictions on international travel, have mostly been unsuccessful in limiting the spread of the virus within their borders.

“Governments are also learning that while vaccination strategies have an important role in ending the pandemic, their relatively slow rollout in most countries and the emergence of new virus variants mean that the virus continues to circulate and pose a significant public health risk,” he observed.

Cottey advised that, “... a combination of timely and effective public health measures, combined with a successful immunization campaign, is necessary for halting the virus’ spread and protecting the population once international travel resumes.”

Looking Ahead

He said that, “The countries which best handle the next pandemic will have likely learned multiple lessons from the current pandemic. These include acting in a timely and decisive manner, including before full evidence on the spread or nature of a virus has emerged.

“Moreover, successful leaders will likely prioritize the public health outlook rather than the economic outlook, with the success of the latter dependent on the former. Countries should also increase the role of scientists and epidemiologists in the pandemic response [in relations to] other interests in order to devise a successful response,” Cottey counseled.

Data Matters

Ed Simcox is the chief strategy officer of healthcare consulting company LifeOmic and former chief technology officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He said that, “We can only improve what we can manage. We can only manage what we can measure.

“What we learned from Covid-19 early on is that we didn’t have the means to collect, transmit, and analyze public health data to make decisions. There was a vacuum created from the lack of data that was filled with anecdotes and uninformed opinions that impacted our ability to respond to and recover from the impacts of Covid-19. Our ability to respond to infectious disease outbreaks remains impaired.”

Simcox recalled that Congress tried several times in the past 14 years to address the lack of available public health data.

“In 2006, it passed the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), which required the CDC and HHS to establish a near-real-time, electronic, nationwide, public health data-sharing capability to ‘enhance early detection of, rapid response to, and management of, potentially catastrophic infectious disease outbreaks.’”

Then, he said, “... in 2010, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that not even the most basic planning steps were taken to establish the network. Then, in 2013, Congress passed the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act (PAHPRA), which unsuccessfully called for a ‘near real-time interoperable public health data exchange network.’”

“Finally,” Simcox noted, “just months before the current pandemic, Congress passed the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act (PAHPAI). [Our] need for such a system is now greater than ever.”

Checklist

Dr. Daniel B. Fagbuyi was an Obama administration public health/biodefense appointee and emergency physician at MedStart Health and the Tower Health and Wellness Surgery Center. He recommended taking the following steps to prepare for the next pandemic.

Know Our History

Know what we have done right or wrong in responding to previous public health emergencies. Only then can we begin to know what needs to be fixed or improved.

Provide Funding

Re-establish and update disaster and emergency preparedness funding for pandemics and disasters, and provide money to support and maintain public health facilities and labs.

Warnings Systems

Have warning systems/intelligence in place to better prepare us for imminent threats.

The Right People

Elect officials who believe in science. 

The Right Policies

Put policies in place to address misinformation and disinformation. 

Candid Communication

Be candid with the American public when communicating information about threats.

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