End Covid in 4 weeks — everywhere
with minimal damage to the economy
I am a bit pissed at ALL governments that they do not use all the tools science can offer…
We could end Covid in 4 weeks Anywhere if we use the following tools:
Masks (special thank to https://masks4all.org/) and vaccinations are done mostly correctly (however some people still could not tell a mask from a chin guard). So I will focus on other aspects:
Rapid At-Home Testing bought in a local pharmacy
This is crucial to stop the pandemic, it’s a human right to know if you are infectious or not, and everybody should be able to go into ANY pharmacy and buy a rapid covid test, do the test at home and isolate. These tests are 20–30 USD each, they are available for over more than a year now, if you want to learn more follow @michaelmina_lab on Twitter or check out https://www.rapidtests.org/ to understand why more than a few hundred doctors swear by it.
And it’s finally available in the US from a pharmacy: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/covid-19-rapid-tests-now-available-at-pharmacies-what-to-know
Privacy-Preserving Preventative Contact Tracing with Incentive design
So we are sorted why the daily rapid test useful, let’s give the whole covid ending system and another spin: align the individual incentives with society’s.
Novid.org is an app that tells you how far are you with the latest INFECTIOUS case:
Which turn the whole contact tracing on its head, because nobody really wants to cry out loud that he or she has covid, but everybody wants to know how far is the latest and closest infectious case in the given social circle.
Physical Distancing with a Network Science Twist
The above article is about how can you maximise the economy’s output while stopping Covid and minimizing lockdowns.
That sounds awesome, but how?
The trick is you use the above 2 tricks, (to know who is infectious) and only put half of the society in lockdown in a given time (a week or so) and obviosly because of the daily rapid testing you stay at home if you are infectious.
The model can sustain even 20% violation if done correctly (Complience part of the article)
Simple right? The math behind it is beautituful but the target audience (policy makers) don’t have the attention span for it. The bottom line it works because Math.
Summary
In summary, with the above 2 + 3 tricks:
- Masks
- Vaccination
- Rapid At-Home Testing bought in a local pharmacy
- Privacy-Preserving Preventative Contact Tracing with Incentive design
- Physical Distancing with a Network Science Twist
we can end a pandemic in 4 weeks.
Check out the below sources if you want to learn more.