The Network Garden - Mark Sigal's Blog

Testing at Scale: A Return to Normalcy with COVID-19

There is a saying that you Manage What You MEASURE.

But in the case of COVID-19, you CAN manage if/when you can measure (test) at scale.

Case in point, think how quickly could we return to quasi-normalcy if we had "quick diagnosis" COVID-19 testing at scale.

People could go to work or school, or an event needing only a DAY PASS to get in.

Those who were validated positive and now are cleared, could get a SAFE PASS. Those diagnosed, could get Quarantine & Care.

I bring that up because last week, the FDA approved testing of a COVID-19 test that yields results in 45 minutes. This week, the FDA has authorized review of a 15-minute Coronavirus test. Last night, I read about Abbott launching a portable test that diagnoses in FIVE MINUTES.

On this front, Epidemiologist Larry Brilliant, who warned of coming #pandemic in 2006, says in the XLNT Wired article, “The Doctor Who Helped Defeat Smallpox Explains What's Coming,” that there is nothing endemic in this particular virus that stands in the way of developing prophylactics to prevent, vaccinations to kill, and curatives to minimize symptoms & speed recovery.

But first, we need lots more testing to identify the infected.

Through ubiquitous testing, we can manage until we can mitigate.

State of the Restaurant Industry as a Proxy for Understanding Covid-19 Economic Impact

While the "eye test" gives a clear view of how deep the impact of #covid19 is to our #economy, especially #retail, I thought this #dataset from OpenTable on the state of the restaurant industry was jaw-dropping.

Filterable by City, State and Country, it shows the dramatic drop in Year over Year seated diners in the OpenTable network.

This underscores the notion put forth by Michael Leavitt, our Secretary of Health and Human Services under George W. Bush, that, “Everything you say in advance of a pandemic seems alarmist. Anything you’ve done after it starts is inadequate.”

Check it out.

State of the Restaurant Industry (OpenTable): https://www.opentable.com/state-of-industry