How Biden plans to change the US Covid-19 pandemic response - CNN
“Increased testing and contact tracing
....Biden
promises all Americans will have access to "regular, reliable, and free testing."
They say they'll double drive-through testing sites, invest in new technology, and create a U.S. Public Health Jobs Corps that would mobilize "at least 100,000" culturally competent contact tracers.
Biden says he would also borrow a page from the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration and create something akin the
War Production Board, which helped supervise the conversion of peacetime factories to plants that made military equipment and weapons. A Pandemic Testing Board, Biden says, would help produce and distribute tens of millions of tests.“
[...]
“
Several studies have shown that there has been a
severe shortage of personal protective equipment since early 2020, and some shortages have gotten worse, according to a September analysis by the
American Hospital Association.
Often, medical and nursing home staff has
had to reuse gloves, masks and other protective equipment at their peril.”
[...]
While the Trump administration
has claimed to use the Defense Production Act to step up production of PPE, a nonpartisan analysis in September found it has
rarely done so.
Biden said he would use that power to make sure the national supply stocks are fully replenished. He also promised to help create American-sourced products so the US would not be dependent on other countries.
In addition to encouraging Congress to pass an emergency package to help schools pay for pandemic supplies, the Biden administration would create a "restart package" to help small businesses pay for protective equipment and plexiglass.
A push for 'clear, consistent, evidence-based guidance'”
[...]
The Biden team says it would create a Nationwide Pandemic Dashboard so people could gauge for themselves, in real time, how much disease is in their ZIP code....”
[...]
“Rejoining WHO and searching for future threats
The Trump administration formally began the process of
withdrawing from the World Health Organization in July. Biden says he would re-establish the US relationship with WHO.
The Biden administration also says it plans to expand the CDC's ranks oversees, so that its disease detectives can spot future threats.”
[...]
“During the Trump administration,
PREDICT, the pathogen-tracking program that looks for future disease threats such as the coronavirus, ended. Biden said he'd re-launch it.
Biden also said he would restore the White House National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which the Trump administration had folded into another organization in 2018. It had
been created by the Obama administration in 2016 to help managing threats like Ebola.”
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