![]() Zelikow: The most palpable area was schools. We haven't taken those extra steps to connect those amazing biomedical capabilities to getting it to the front lines. We shouldn't still be seeing 250 deaths a day. We've got effective treatments now for COVID. Health care and public health need to work together for an effective response in the 21st century. ![]() What we were less good at was taking the steps in health care that could have prevented it. That was a remarkable achievement of American health care. The science available to address a new pathogen like COVID has changed enormously – the ability to develop tests and treatments and vaccines at a pace never before seen in the history of pandemics. We saw heroic activities by health care organizations (and) hospitals all across the country to try to respond to the threats of infection and serious illnesses. McClellan: The big thing was not having systems in place, public health, health care, etc., that were well prepared for the kind of war we can fight now against new infections. We've come out of that pandemic essentially retaining the 19th century structure." What do you think were some of the biggest failures of the pandemic? Zelikow: We went into a 21st century pandemic with a 19th century system. ![]() Latest: Another COVID booster is now approved for older people and those at high risk Do you notice any really big things that have been done to fix the "not good?" No.īoth of those fundamental perceptions are correct and our report details why.Īre your ears ringing? Experts are studying whether its linked to COVID or the vaccine. Generally, everyone's going to tell you: not good. Zelikow: Everybody got a sense of how well they thought institutions were performing in the crisis. Are we any better positioned now to fight another pandemic than we were in January 2020? I'm not sure we've learned those lessons yet. Not so much about complaining, but about what could have gone better and making sure it doesn't happen again. ![]() McClellan : This process is so important right now: taking a good, honest look with an eye toward the future. What made you want to join this project and help write this book? Find a full list of the crisis group members and their expertise at the end of this article. This interview has been edited and condensed. Mark McClellan, who ran the Food and Drug Administration and then the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the George W. The book's primary author, Philip Zelikow, who also is the group's director and former 9/11 Commission executive director.To get a deeper sense of what they found and what they believe needs to be done to prevent a repeat, USA TODAY spoke with two of the COVID Crisis Group members: Though data suggests the world remains extremely vulnerable to another pandemic, only 12% of Americans believe their government is doing enough to prepare, according to a poll of 1,000 residents released this month by YouGov, funded by the education charity Rhodes Trust. Group members held "listening sessions" with nearly 300 people, and in the absence of a federal commission on the topic, they felt a duty to speak out about what they found. COVID-19 should have been attacked like a foreign invasion, but too often the nation's leaders were absent from the battlefield, they argue. The book "Lessons from the COVID War," published Tuesday, is deliberate in its use of military metaphors. Now, a group of more than 30 heavy-hitting experts from the worlds of policy, public health, science, biodefense and patient advocacy has written a book reviewing some of those errors and making suggestions for avoiding similar missteps in the future. Despite partisan divides, pretty much everyone agrees that America's leaders made mistakes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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