OPINION: Former CDC director Frieden writes on: What's next with Omicron and the pandemic?

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Thu, 2021-12-09 06:15 — mike kraft

Editor's Note: Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Obama administration, when he oversaw responses to the H1N1 influenza, Ebola and Zika epidemics, is President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies and Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations.

(CNN) On Thanksgiving morning, Covid reminded us that neither death nor mutations take a holiday. And while the virus gathers strength, a pandemic of pandemic fatigue undermines our ability to stop the virus. The newly discovered Omicron variant quickly led to border closures, a stock market plunge, and a collective sigh of despair: Will the pandemic ever end?

To stop disease spread, we need to learn quickly, communicate well, and act effectively.

There's a lot we don't know yet about Omicron, and definitive answers to the most important questions will likely take weeks or longer. The most valuable resource we need to live well and prosper in the age of Covid is timely, accurate information, accurately interpreted and appropriately acted on.

The most important unknown about Omicron is to what extent it evades protection from vaccines and prior infection. And the most important unknown about our response is whether governments can retain the trust of enough people to implement effective control measures. Our best hope to control the pandemic is to learn together and spread best practices around the world. ...

Although we've gotten used to going without masks, with increasing cases and a more infectious variant, it's time to mask up again. If everyone masks indoors where Covid is spreading, everyone is safer.

Just as your right to swing your fist doesn't extend to someone else's nose, your right to bare your nose and mouth doesn't extend to killing someone by spreading a deadly virus. Mask mandates need to be implemented, enforced, and adherence monitored to build a collective sense of responsibility and achievement at high levels of mask wearing.

This can be done by tracking and publishing rates of appropriate indoor mask usage and keeping them above 90%. Fix the market so anyone can buy an effective mask at a reasonable price, and give away masks, including N95s, to those who need them. If you're older or immunosuppressed or live with someone who is, and especially if others around you aren't masked, you'll be safer if you upgrade to an N95. ...

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