“Ethical Markets recommends this good set of grown-up discussions today on how Singapore dealt with COVID-19 and the furor over Dr. David Katz‘s very sensible article in the New York Times, examining the possibilities of “herd immunity“, and sheltering only the riskiest population over 60 or with pre-existing conditions, rather than trying to shelter the entire US population.
The thesis is that there are probably millions of Americans who have had the COVID-19 disease with few symptoms, without knowing it, and they are probably immune and could safely return to their usual routines while still maintaining ‘social distancing’, and that possibly children could return to schools.
Dr. Katz was very careful to explain that only sufficient data and testing for antibodies should guide such a policy change (a simple test now available in the UK on Amazon, involving an at-home finger prick with results in 10 minutes). Only one company in the USA offers this serological test: BioMedomics of North Carolina. Abbot Labs will also have a simple at-home test for the virus in the USA starting this week.
Ethical Market webinar April 2nd “Pandemics: Lessons Looking Back from 2050“ with Arizona State University Lightworks discussing these issues and my article with physicist Fritjof Capra, with Mirian Vilela of the EARTH CHARTER, from Costa Rica. Register at: “Pandemics: Lessons Looking Back from 2050“. So far over 750 professional policymakers from 20 countries signed up!
Hazel Henderson, Editor“
On Today’s Show
On GPS today at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET:
First, Fareed gives his take on how the US government has handled COVID-19—and the deep flaws the crisis has revealed.
“At some point, we Americans must look at the facts and recognize an uncomfortable reality,” Fareed says. “The US is on track to have the worst outbreak of coronavirus among wealthy countries, largely because of the ineffectiveness of its government. This is the new face of American exceptionalism.”
After decades of defunding government and demonizing bureaucrats, Fareed says, the US is now paying a price. Its federal bureaucracy has been exposed as ineffective, and although the country touts its federalism, a patchwork of state, local, and tribal health systems now seems unwieldy. As America lags behind other developed countries in per-capita virus testing, Fareed says, the gap between the US and countries with well-funded, well-run governments is becoming apparent.
Next, what can the rest of the world learn from the countries that have handled coronavirus most effectively? Fareed will have an exclusive interview with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, whose country has been lauded—along with governments in South Korea and Taiwan—as having executed one of the most capable responses to COVID-19, limiting the rate of death and infection by responding swiftly, tracing suspected cases, and using targeted quarantines. Fareed will ask Lee about those measures: what worked, what didn’t, and what lessons he can share.
As debates rage over whether or not to shut down an entire country at the expense of its economy, Fareed discusses the merits of near-lockdowns with CNN Global Economics Analyst and Financial Times Global Business Columnist Rana Foroohar; Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center Founding Director and True Health Initiative founder Dr. David Katz (whose recent New York Times op-ed argued for lesser restrictions); and Times science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil, Jr., whose work has focused on epidemics such as Ebola, AIDS, SARS, and Zika, the topic of his 2016 book “Zika: The Emerging Epidemic.”