The glaring loophole in U.S. virus response: Human error

This broad, far reaching Politico piece summarizes the way in which even the best laid pandemic plans can go awry through the simple reason that people mess up. The article then contrasts the money being devoted towards fighting the coronavirus with mistakes made by agencies and local health workers. The CDC’s test had serious flaws, and their testing guidelines proved too narrow. A California man was in the hospital for a week undiagnosed because of these strict guidelines, exposing himself to staffers. In general, there exists a lack of protection for health care workers. Long term care facilities appear especially vulnerable, considering their elderly population has compromised immune systems. For a pandemic plan to work, everything must go exactly as planned; oftentimes small mistakes have lasting, outsized consequences. In this way the current COVID19 response mirrors the Ebola outbreak in 2014. In that situation, a Dallas hospital misdiagnosed an Ebola patient, leading to widespread panic. The most encouraging part of the article came when the author quotes Tom Frieden who explained that so long as officials prove adaptable to changing conditions and are transparent with the public, confidence ought to be maintained. In addition, so long as decisions continue to be made based on the science, the public has no cause for alarm.

Patrick Moynahan

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/02/loophole-coronavirus-response-human-error-118491