PREPAREDNESS
What Strategies, Programs, Systems, Tools, and Other Risk-Management Mechanisms are Now Mandatory to Avoid the Blunders of the First Round of COVID-19 When Round 2 or Another Significant Attack Occurs?
By Dr. John Norris
Last year, 2023, even theoretically post-pandemic, many Americans still died from infectious diseases. For example, 21,000 died just from the Flu. In 2019, 13.7 million people worldwide died from contagious diseases. 2 million of which co-occurred with non-communicable diseases. Three million of these deaths occurred in children under the age of 5 years. Since then, worldwide infectious disease deaths have ranged around 17+ million per year, with an unusual peak occurring during the COVID-19 crisis. Globally, respiratory infections and bloodstream infections are the deadliest. People working within closed facilities and when within their homes, if the pathogen is brought from work to home, are at significant risk of dying from an infectious disease. Many millions more are significantly harmed in the short-term or long-term without dying.
So, it has become clear that this next time, by the Fall, if we are to avoid the blunders of the past, which contributed to the killing of 1.2 million Americans and seven people worldwide, installment and operation of effective strategies, programs, systems, tools, and other appropriate risk-management mechanisms to prevent, mitigate and control the spread of deadly pathogens are essential. Only then can an enterprise and its constituents respond quickly and effectively to combat these viruses, bacteria, or molds and minimize the impact of their spread on themselves and onto society. Please keep in mind that it is the "spread" that kills millions. There was no spread and no significant number of deaths.
Such spread within enterprises, counties, states, and countries is exacerbated by how modern societies are structured and how we live, work, and travel. Given time and the right conditions, such as large cities and towns and global 747 transportation that can take an infected person to the farthest places of the globe in 24 hours, you can see why the Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, believes the next pandemic has the potential to kill 50 million people worldwide, 4x than the seven million that the first wave of COVID-19 killed.
In the Middle Ages, it took years for the bubonic plague pathogen to spread because its human and animal carriers of infected lice and fleas rode old camels and even older galleon ships. Roughly, that's one day now versus 1,000 days then. A thousand times faster today. The plague killed half the world's population in approximately three years. Imagine what a more dangerous pathogen (a more deadly and more contagious pathogen) might do today, significantly if the pathogen is intentionally helped to spread by a terrorist group or hostile nation.
Background
As a former FDA COO, Harvard faculty member, and infectious disease spread expert—as well as an advisor to the CEOs of MGH, Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare), Pfizer, and many other critical US and global health and healthcare leaders in business and government—Dr. Norris has worked daily to create solutions to the increasing biothreats to the US and its allies.
These solutions include innovative strategies, programs, systems, and tools to prevent, mitigate, and control the "spread"—and its significantly harmful effects—of deadly infectious diseases on humans, animals, and plants. It's the "spread" that kills millions, either directly or indirectly.
These diseases include the 24 now known to be the most lethal, including the three most deadly, Anthrax, Botulinum Toxin, and Ebola (coming soon). Again, it's the "spread" that kills millions—whether the pathogen or its variant is born of nature or humankind, and its spread comes in the form of an attack by nature, a terrorist group, or a hostile nation—currently, the last two concern us the most. Let us explain.
Experts generally think that there is a 10% chance per year that nature will hand us our next pandemic-sized attack. But there is a much higher probability each year that a terrorist group or hostile nation will do it. Of course, playing "Russian Roulette" with a ten-chamber revolver with just one bullet inserted is something that few intelligent and thoughtful people would do. But one would be considered reckless beyond belief if three or even four of the ten chambers had bullets in them. So, "Flying bare, without preparation, is insane." No responsible CEO would run an enterprise without an appropriate “Fire Safety: strategy, program, systems, and tools” in place and fully operational.
Finally, Dr. Norris was a significant investor in the start-up company that, a year ago, invented and developed the world's first powerful vaccine (earlier vaccines were far less potent, so the US Federal Government helped by awarding the company over $200,000,000 in grants to create a more potent vaccine) for the deadliest bioweapon: Anthrax. Dr. Norris "paid the receipts forward when that company was recently sold." He invested all the funds he received into a new company, Safely2Prosperity. He plans to invest in other start-ups to fill unmet needs in the infectious disease-spread danger zone. These are now the most significant national security and defense threats to America and its allies.
Introduction
In today's increasingly uncertain world, the threat of bio attacks has become a chilling reality. These deliberate acts of releasing harmful pathogens into the environment can have devastating consequences on public health and the preservation of civilized society. While we often consider the immediate impact of such attacks on adults, examining their potential effects on our most vulnerable and valuable (they are our future) class: infants and, consequently, indirectly on adults is crucial.
No one has spoken precisely of this. But what if the first shot across our bow used to signal the reality and strength of the risk—and its resulting damage, if it materializes—of the deadly bio-warfare threat now hanging over our heads was a stealth bioattack just on America's and or Israel's infants? And worse, what if the attack is also undetectable or close to undetectable as to its source and, therefore, has little chance that it will effectively and timely be retaliated against? Bioweapons are reaching the point where they can be structured to primarily target specific age groups—per COVID-19's most significant deadly effects on older adults. Yes, this was mainly due to the elderly's diminished resistance to a particular disease like COVID-19. That is precisely the point.
A terrorist group or hostile nation could select and further structure a virus, biotic, or mold bioweapon to target "more or less" a specific class, in this case, infants, within a population of humans. Moreover, they can make the bioweapons ever increasingly stealthy from two perspectives.
The first perspective involves selecting or creating a pathogen that has a highly delayed expression of symptoms--at the same time, it is simultaneously highly contagious/infectious. The second perspective consists of choosing or creating a pathogen with large numbers of asymptomatic carriers of the disease that are already highly contagious/infectious.
In both cases, infected infants (or other persons or infants they infect) would be placed among the targeted population, in this case, our infants, for example, in daycare, play date situations, or doctors' offices, and spread the disease aggressively throughout that population without anyone knowing it until it is too late to respond appropriately. Such initially infected infants would be spreading time bombs waiting to go off.
In This Blog Post
In this blog post, we will explore the impact of a targeted bioattack (or attacks) on an enterprise, county, state, nation, and or nations and explore the attack's potential ramifications. We will examine the likely number of casualties, the impact on families, from children to parents to grandparents, and the broader societal implications, including the devastation of investors and many other parties in the supply chain of single (and possibly multiple) attacked enterprises. By understanding these possible effects, business executives, government agency heads, and nation leaders can better prepare themselves to prevent, mitigate, and control the impact of infectious disease spread (it's the "spread" that kills millions) and protect their workforce, families, and enterprises, all of whom are essential to America and its allies' continued functioning as we would want and need them to function--for the good of all.
To create immediate responses to bio attacks by nature or by terrorist groups or hostile nations, all three of which might involve stealth attacks at the outset, so the spread might already be significant before it is identified, bio attack "preparedness" is essential. This preparedness must be in the form of an installed and fully operational prevention, mitigation, and control strategy, program, system, and tools capable of preventing, mitigating, and controlling the spread of the deadly pathogen in the workplace and within employee homes, where employees take the workplace pathogen home. (For leaders who want to avoid their duty here, be "on notice" that the workplace source of infecting spouses and children is scientifically identifiable in many cases.) It is also necessary to prevent workers from taking a pathogen from home to work to infect their co-workers and their families. As mentioned earlier, it is essential to repeat now: "It is the "spread" that kills millions."
In sum, if a leader wants to avoid moral, ethical, and legal liability for recklessness and the significant career and social implications of such a finding by society or the courts, they must prepare before the outbreak/attack. Now that leaders are on notice based on their COVID-19 first-wave experience, it is clear "recklessness" (the legal equivalent of "intent") if they are not soon prepared to prevent, mitigate, and or control the spread, no matter (1) the pathogen and (2) the source of its selection and distribution within the attack, whether nature-made and or human-manufactured. "Preparedness now" is the mantra.
The Importance of Preparedness: Transformative Strategies, Programs, Systems, and Tools Needed in Place and Fully Active to Avoid Future COVID-19-Like Blunders
There are 24 deadly infectious diseases that are widely spread across the globe, to one degree or another, at one time of the year or the other, and within one location or the other. So, even though the threat of the last pandemic has waned for now, the world's governments, government agencies, and businesses continue to grapple daily with significant threats of infectious disease spread.
Dr. Norris said: Last year, 2023, even theoretically post-pandemic, many Americans still died from infectious diseases. For example, 21,000 died just from the Flu. In 2019, 13.7 million people worldwide died from infectious diseases. 2 million of which co-occurred with non-communicable diseases. Three million of these deaths occurred in children under the age of 5 years. Since then, worldwide infectious disease deaths have ranged around 17+ million per year, with an unusual peak occurring during the COVID-19 crisis. Globally, respiratory infections and bloodstream infections are the deadliest. People working within closed facilities and when within their homes, if the pathogen is brought from work to home, are at significant risk of dying from an infectious disease. Many millions more are significantly harmed in the short-term or long-term without dying.
The ongoing COVID-19, Round #2, which has declined during the summer from 5,000 deaths per month in the US in March 2024 (three months ago) but is likely to come back in the Fall, at one level or another, possibly minor or possibly significant, just like the Flu has since 1918. Other important pathogens, such as RSV, pneumonia, and the flu, will likely also, large or small at one level or another. Beyond these high-level threats, there are three more possible sources: (1) another existing pathogen creates an unexpected outbreak, (2) a new pathogen does, and (3) a terrorist group or hostile nation human-manufactured pathogen or human-distributed pathogen of one kind or another presents itself. On top of this, a significant outbreak can occur in a single region or single company. There is no need for a pandemic-sized attack to occur worldwide, of which there is only a 10% chance of occurring each year, to create much harm for those companies and their workers, families, and investors to suffer significantly. From any perspective, and in any event, it is reckless for a CEO and their enterprise not to be prepared.
Dr. Norris said: So, as a consequence, it has become clear that this next time, by the Fall, if we are to avoid the blunders of the past, which contributed to the killing of 1.2 million Americans and 7 million people worldwide, installment and operation of effective strategies, programs, systems, and tools are essential. Only then can an enterprise and its constituents respond quickly and effectively to combat these viruses, bacteria, or molds and minimize their spread's impact on themselves and society. It is the "spread" that kills millions.
The first round of COVID-19 caught many business executives, government agency heads, and national leaders off guard. Plus, the ancient ways and means they were "fed" to respond--both late and in some ways counter-productive, such as by closing the economy and our schools. Those acts were not better than nothing. Accordingly, it is crucial that, without blaming anyone, we learn from these mistakes and take proactive measures to avoid similar blunders next time.
It is critical to be prepared so as not to respond late and to have sound strategies, programs, systems, and tools fully operational and capable of adequately managing any new outbreaks, large or small.
Understanding the Blunders of the First Round of COVID-19
The initial wave of COVID-19 brought a series of challenges that revealed significant gaps in our preparedness. From inadequate vaccine research and development capabilities and testing capabilities to overwhelmed healthcare systems to archaic spread risk-management strategies, programs, systems, and tools, the consequences of these blunders were devastating in the US and worldwide. These errors contributed to 1.2 million Americans being killed. Worldwide, it was 7 million. It is hard to tell how many of these people would have died even without the blunders. Estimates range as high as 80% would have died anyway. In other words, the blunders did not kill them all.
On the other hand, estimates of the avoidable deaths range as high as 40%. It is essential to know more precisely. We have called for academic studies. So far, no sufficient amount of federal or foundation money has been allocated to this critical task. Knowledge is power.
There is plenty of blame to go around. From our point of view, it mainly was unawareness at all levels of societies located around the globe, from businesses to government agencies to national governments, regarding how dangerous (highly contagious and deadly) "microscopic bullets" you can't see. Still, you can spread faster and better than wildfire (which usually ceases to spread within 10s of miles from ground zero) for thousands of miles.
Dr. Norris said: Such spread within enterprises, counties, states, and countries is exacerbated by how modern societies live and work. Given time and the right conditions, such as large cities and towns and global 747 transportation that can take an infected person to the farthest places of the globe in 24 hours, you can see why the Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Ghebreyesus, believes the next pandemic has the potential to kill 50 million people worldwide, rather than the seven million that the first wave of COVID-19 killed. In the Middle Ages, it took years for the bubonic plague pathogen to spread because its human and animal carriers of infected lice and fleas rode old camels and even older galleon ships. Roughly, that's one day now versus 1,000 days then. A thousand times faster today.
Again, we repeatedly have called for properly funded academic studies to determine a more precise number of "avoidable deaths" from the ways and means by which we managed the first wave of COVID-19 in the US and worldwide. We suspect it was large, but we don't know how large. Details of this number and the related "who, what, where, when, how, and why" are needed to determine more precisely by what ways and means we can perform far better risk management in the future. To prevent repeating the same mistakes, we need to address at least the below vital areas that obviously need improvement. Further refinements of these and identification of others can follow. These early improvements must be made now. Things like these that are urgent cannot continue to be "swept under the rug" at all three levels of society. Think: would you allow a serial murderer who just four years ago killed 7 million people to walk around your place of business or your home without significant protections in place at all levels of society--including fully operational advanced, innovative, and transformational technology, inclusive of high-value strategies, programs, systems, and tools?
These are the areas that we believe must be reformed now:
1. Testing and Surveillance
Two of the most critical aspects of controlling the spread of any infectious disease are routine and attack-specific testing and surveillance. The availability of accurate and widely accessible testing methods is crucial in identifying attacks or specific cases early and implementing appropriate containment measures. Additionally, a robust surveillance system is essential in tracking the virus, bacteria, or mold's spread and identifying or projecting hotspots to take immediate actions to prevent further inward or outward spread.
2. Healthcare Infrastructure and Resources
The strain placed on healthcare systems during the first round of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for resilient infrastructure and adequate in-place and fully active resources. These include sufficient (1) hospital beds, (2) medical equipment, and (3) healthcare and safety personnel fully trained in handling the spread of infectious diseases. Investing in expanding and enhancing healthcare facilities (including on-site resources for housing persons requiring isolation because they have the disease or quarantining because they have been exposed to the disease) will help alleviate the pressure on or overloading of the system during future outbreaks. Hospitals are in an unenviable place where they must protect themselves to serve others who present as patients or visitors. Remember that a small outbreak in one facility can quickly overload local hospitals, and if it spreads to a county, you have the same problem. The same goes for the spread to a state and a nation. And then more than one nation. We saw this with COVID-19. Because there was not enough spare capacity, the healthcare systems in many countries, including the US, collapsed for many months.
3. Vaccine Development and Distribution
The "invention and development" of vaccines against COVID-19 has been a remarkable (but regrettably controversial) scientific achievement that saved lives, possibly millions. We will only have a legitimate answer to how many once the academic studies we have called for are fully funded by government and foundation grants. Both governments and foundations are delinquent here. However, the "distribution" of vaccines has faced numerous challenges historically. To avoid further blunders in this area, comprehensive, high-quality strategies, programs, systems, and tools must be put in place to ensure excellent and equitable access to vaccines for all populations, including prioritizing vulnerable groups, such as poorly paid high-risk-job front-line workers, and implementing fair, efficient, and effective distribution networks. Those networks and their sister comprehensive, high-quality strategies, programs, systems, and tools must be implemented now. It will be impossible to put them in place and fully operational quickly enough to save many people, including workers and their families—once a crisis created by a local or regional attack has hit. Again, the federal government and foundations are delinquent in getting this message heard and acted on by our leaders.
4. Public Health Education and Communication
Clear and consistent communication about the pathogen, preventive measures, and local, regional, state, national, and international public health guidelines is crucial in minimizing the impact of the disease spread. Developing effective communication strategies now that reach all population segments is essential. One critical need is addressing misinformation from many directions by taking sound actions to foster trust in public health authorities at all five levels. Properly funded education campaigns now and during a nature-made or human-manufactured outbreak can help promote compliance with preventive measures and encourage responsible behavior at all three levels of society--enterprise, government agencies, and nation-states.
Spread Prevention, Mitigation, and Control Strategies, Programs, Systems, and Tools for Immediate and Future "Preparedness" to Act
To avoid the blunders of the first round of COVID-19 when it or its sister pathogen or, in the case of a terrorist or hostile nation attack, possibly pathogens, return, it is necessary to implement a comprehensive range of strategies, programs, systems, and tools, including, alarms, alerts, and spread risk-management recommendations.
These include:
1. Early Warning Systems and Surveillance
Developing robust early warning systems that utilize real-time data analysis that can help detect and respond to outbreaks swiftly is extremely valuable. This includes monitoring indicators, such as measuring the level of pathogens in urine flowing within wastewater, hospital admissions, emergency room visits, doctors' office' visits, and clinical diagnoses, to identify potential hotspots and take immediate, thoughtful, aggressive, and effective prevention, mitigation, and or control actions based on spread risk-management data and recommendations generated by the program and its systems. In a crisis, a sound system will, for a large company, create and assess millions of data points per day.
2. National Pandemic Preparedness Plans
Each country, state, county, and significant enterprise should develop and regularly update a national pandemic or significant outbreak preparedness plan that outlines strategies, programs, and systems to be activated during a public health emergency, such as a nature-made or human-manufactured bioattack. These plans should include clear benchmarks, protocols for viruses or other pathogens, containment, and coordination mechanisms between government entities, healthcare providers, and other relevant stakeholders, such as businesses, unions, employees, families, and investors, as well as banks, insurers--including health, liability, and business interruption insurers--suppliers, and customers. These plans must be top drawer and written now, not recklessly, after an attack. The plans must be built to be flexible enough to "bend with the wind." Adaptation will be critical once more and more facts are created and learned.
3. Investment in Healthcare Infrastructure
Significant investments should be made in healthcare infrastructure to strengthen healthcare systems' capacities to handle surges in cases, both short-term and long-term. This includes expanding hospital bed capacities, ensuring an adequate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), increasing the production of essential vaccines, tests, therapeutics, and medical equipment, and enhancing the training and recruitment of healthcare professionals to be able to stay safe at the same time they treat patients--or continuously provide safety precautions to protect those who do. It is wild to spend all our national budget on protection from a nuclear attack or full-blown nuclear war. They probably will never happen. A bio attack and even a bio war are far more likely to occur for various reasons. An 80-20 split would make far more sense. The 20 to go to bio-warfare preparedness and response. Not 99-01.
4. Enhanced Data Sharing and Collaboration
Effectively combating future outbreaks requires improved data sharing and collaboration between healthcare agencies, research institutions, and international organizations. Establishing global networks for sharing (1) data, (2) research findings, and(3) best practices now, continuously, and on the fly in the middle of a bio crisis will enable faster and more informed decision-making during crises at all three levels of society: businesses, government agencies, and the US and our allies' national governments. Please note that we include everything from manufacturers to hospitals to foundations to universities to employees to families to agents to suppliers to customers within our definition of "businesses." We do this because everyone and everything is involved in US and or global commerce except government agencies and national governments. The latter is responsible for ensuring employees, families, investors, and others keep the economy open and functioning at a high level.
5. Research and Development
Continued significant investment in research and development is crucial in advancing our understanding of COVID-19 and similar "dangerous" (highly deadly, very contagious, and living under conditions where it can be ignited to be fast spreading) pathogens is crucial. Developing adaptable and effective vaccines, tests, treatments, and other preventive, mitigative, and or control measures is critical. (As we will speak to below, there are already a few good products to do this, but they must continuously be improved.) This includes governments and foundations doing their job related to significantly and otherwise appropriately supporting scientific research, funding clinical trials, and fostering collaborations between academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, other health and healthcare businesses, and government agencies. Properly funded research should be dedicated to five additional more specific crucial targets (1) discovering how many Americans and people abroad were avoidable killed by COVID-19 and the "who, what, where, how, and why" this vast number was avoidably killed, (2) any other "lessons learned" from the blunders of the past (not to blame but to avoid making the same mistakes when the next pandemic-sized or significant attack hits, which could be soon, if the war in the Middle East does not cool off, (3) what we can thoughtfully do to streamline the process of inventing and developing new or appropriately modified (to make them faster, cheaper, safer, and better) vaccines, tests, and treatments, for example, (4) take time and other resources now to develop vaccines, tests, and treatments for the most potent bioweapons, such as Anthrax. Dr. Norris invested significant funds in research and development to help create a better vaccine for the number one killer, Anthrax, which development was completed last year, (5) do our very best to create "universal" products to immediately protect, to a degree, especially hospital employees, no matter what the pathogen used is. In some cases, this would be all that we could do to protect people, especially front-line workers, such as nurses, in the near term, given an attack using an existing, modified, or new pathogen for which we have no sufficiently effective vaccine, test, and or therapy yet in place. In that case, inventing and developing these protective tools will likely take months or even years. So, we will need other means such as isolation (of the infected), quarantining (of those detected to have been exposed), and contact-tracing tools. Closing the economy and schools was precisely the wrong thing to do. It was counter-productive. And alternatives were available if leaders had only listened.
6. Strengthening Global Health Organizations
It is imperative to strengthen global health organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure their ability to respond effectively to future pandemics or significant outbreaks anywhere in the world, including gathering and sharing facts and giving thoughtful recommendations regarding what to do given new facts. This includes increasing funding, improving coordination mechanisms, and enhancing the WHO's capacity to provide timely and accurate information to member states. The WHO was treated rudely or ignored by many during the first round of the COVID-19 Pandemic. This was a mistake. While, like any large agency, only some of what they propose is correct, much of what they had to say was valuable. Plus, we believe what the WHO Director General, Dr. Ghebreyesus, told about the next pandemic (what he called "Pandemic X") was spot on. He thinks the next pandemic-sized attack could come soon and might be four times as deadly as the first COVID-19 pandemic.
Examples of the Transformative Features of One of the Viable Preventive Product Choices
Because this is a Public Service Article, we do not want to promote the value or features of Safely2Prosperity's VirusVigilant infectious disease spread risk management product. There are three (of roughly 15) competitive products that are almost as good. We believe we were the first, but there are three "close followers."
Plus, we need to find out how their products are priced. So, it is difficult to determine if their net value is better than ours. We don't think it is, but we do not know. It is essential for business CEOs and government agency heads to acquire this kind of transformative protection now, whether it is our product or not. Our invention entails the right transformative strategy, program, systems, and tools. But others may do, too. We are incredibly low-cost. But they might be, too.
We sell a "full preparedness license" for our product for as low as 50 cents per employee per month for large companies. We seek a fair return on our investment and strive to serve humankind. This low-cost pricing (as low as we can go) accomplishes both our goals. Any company with over 1,000 employees would be reckless if it did not install an infectious disease-spread risk management product like ours or similar to ours. Again, because many people do not understand this, we inform the reader that "Its the spread that kills millions." If you can dampen the spread, even the most deadly pathogen will likely kill only thousands. It's like preventing or catching a fire early. Dampen it early and aggressively, and it will not spread extensively enough to kill millions. To be clear, though, the spread of biologics can go much further (broader and more distant) many times more quickly and lastingly than fires.
So, controlling the spread of biologics is far more complex and, therefore, requires using far more sophisticated and very advanced transformational strategies, programs, systems, and tools.
Several Competitive Products Exist to Fill This Gargantuan Gap in Current Preparedness to Respond Quickly and Effectively to Prevent, Mitigate, and or Control the Spread of Deadly Pathogens
Pathogens thrive by "the spread." It is unclear why they kill many of their carriers. But they do. They would be even more deadly if they did so slowly. Carriers who survive do most of the work. That is, unless, and we mean a "huge unless," the pathogen is being spread "intentionally" by terrorist groups (bioterrorism) and or hostile nations (biowarfare) and or reckless humans (bio recklessness). "Recklessness" is the equivalent of "intent" under the moral, ethical, and legal societal structures within which we live. Business executives, government agency heads, and nation leaders who fail, knowingly or not, to protect their "people" recklessly are in big, career-ending trouble. They will be held accountable this time, but by then, it likely will be too late to save the lives of millions of workers and their families. Accordingly, protection is needed now from nature but also from awful terrorist groups or hostile nations or humans who want to call themselves "good leaders" but are actually "reckless leaders." And good board chairpersons, if they are smart, do not keep reckless CEOs, for example, on their teams.
Competitive products are on the market now and have been marketed for months to fill the immense gap in preparedness. These products, to one degree or another, enable leaders at all levels to respond quickly and effectively to bio attacks, regardless of the source. We will describe the five strategic nuances of Safely2Prosperity's VirusVigilantproduct below because we are most familiar with them. While we believe our product is the best and lowest-cost in the world, we also think we have three close followers. If you choose a product other than ours, that is ok with us. The important thing is that you have taken appropriate action now to "protect your people."
Five revolutionary, transformational, and genuinely game-changing strategic insights underlie the powerful, life and enterprise-saving impact of S2P's VirusVigilant product.
They are:
1. Installing and Making Fully Operational New, Far More Advanced Preparedness and Response Strategies, Programs, Systems, and Tools
VirusVigilant replaces the 1918-style pandemic approach with better preparedness and response strategies, programs, systems, and thoughtful application of tools, such as vaccines, tests, therapies, isolation facilities (for infected persons), quarantine locations (for exposed persons), contact tracing mechanisms, and response recommendation features, for example. The 1918 approach did not prevent up to 1.2 million Americans from dying, of which as many as 40% were killed avoidably. (Let's find out the number and why.) VirusVigilant can help reduce both numbers significantly. Also, while COVID-19 killed primarily older adults, they were not only valuable people but also almost all the parents and grandparents of employees who were distraught over their loved one's loss. And the next pandemic will likely also kill working-age adults and children in great numbers, perhaps in the millions. These losses will exacerbate the problem we had with phase one of COVID-19. If so, workers will die in numbers, refuse to come to work, or be unproductive because of extreme stress if they do. Under all three conditions, executives, managers, workers, and co-workers will lose their jobs.--while investors, bankers, insurers--including health, liability, and business interruption insurers--suppliers, and customers, among many others, will dramatically be harmed financially and possibly be knocked out of business.
2. Strategically Converting the Most Dangerous Places to Be During an Outbreak Into the Safest
Unlike past pandemics or significant outbreaks, when closed-in work facilities were the most dangerous places for workers and their families, VirusVigilant helps reverse the outcome dramatically. It is transformative. Our 'double sanctuary' strategy creates almost disease-free environments, making employee workplaces and their homes among the safest places to be. By using VirusVigilant, the rate and volume of spread are significantly reduced. Again, it is the "spread" that kills millions. VirusVigilant helps maintain sufficiently pathogen-free environments at work and home to characterize these environments as "at-work and at-home sanctuaries reasonably."
3. Help Keeping Enterprises and Counties, States, and Nations Sufficiently Safe to Keep Them Open, Highly Productive, and Profitable
VirusVigilant helps keep enterprises, counties, states, and nations open, highly productive, and profitable. The US and many other countries made multi-trillion-dollar blunders by ordering many enterprises to close for up to 24 months. It was the worst thing they could do from several perspectives, including financial and psychological. The psychological damage to children was particularly damning. Again, the 1918 long-outdated thinking and its related strategies, programs, systems, tools, and recklessness throughout society forced this counter-productive move. In sum, it was altogether the wrong strategy when there were far more innovative and productive strategies, such as Safety2Prosperity's strategy and those owned by others readily available. All the leaders had to do was look. So, now is the time to avoid being "caught with your pants down" the next time a pandemic-sized or other significant attack occurs. Another such attack by nature is expected by some experts (including us) to occur within the next ten years. That's a 10% probability per year. (Not very good odds.) Because of the turmoil in the Middle East, we believe a terrorist group or hostile nation attack could occur within the next three. That's a 33% probability per year. (Horrible odds.) We will see. We hope we are wrong on both counts.
4. Help CEOs, COOs, and Other Leaders in Fulfilling Their Moral, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities to Employees, Families, and Investors
VirusVigilant helps CEOs, COOs, and other leaders in fulfilling their moral, ethical, and legal responsibilities to employees, families, and investors, among many others. Thereby, these leaders (personally) and their companies (corporately) don't get ostracized, successfully sued, or forced into million-dollar settlements—like many others were during the first round of COVID-19. A leader's failure to prepare their enterprise for an event like the one we all just went through is legally and socially "reckless." If the failure is excellent enough, criminal liability might also be imposed. Reckless conduct can lead to significant harm to employees, families, and investors. Again, it is reckless to the highest degree not to be prepared for a deadly event that you have just experienced and are on notice of--and act as if it will never happen again. With fire-caused deaths and machine-cased deaths in the workplace, it took years for codes and regulations to catch up with employee, family, and investor needs. Today, plaintiffs' attorneys are filling the bio irresponsibility void instantly. And regulators will quickly catch up. To his great credit, President Biden ordered his Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) team to do so immediately. Regrettably, business and legal resistance won the day. We expect a repeat effort to protect workers and families (and, as a result, investors) from infectious disease spread to come along again soon. If it is not done proactively, we will see how many avoidable deaths it will take to make it happen. There is a saying in the region where we reside that it is "Stupid to close the barn door only after the horse gets out." But, as Forest Gump, played by Tom Hanks, said in the 1994 movie called by Gump's name, "Stupid is as stupid does." We must reduce the uninformed or laxidaxible in America, thereby aggressively and effectively protecting our people. Not after another pandemic-sized or otherwise significant bioattack occurs. Before it. Now.
5. Removing the Need or Desire to Fire "Non-Compliant" Employees
VirusVigilant removes the need or desire to fire "non-compliant" employees. Most CEOs, COOs, and companies that fired non-compliant employees who refused to be vaccinated during the first round of the COVID-19 Pandemic deeply regret this foolish and reckless decision. It was foolish and reckless because an alternative such as VirusVigilant and others were available—a solution at a fraction of the human and financial costs that these leaders "knew or should have known" was available. When the next round of COVID-19 appears this Fall, we predict that even more CEOs, COOs, and companies will be sued or forced into million-dollar settlements if they are not adequately prepared and motivated to avoid this tragedy. They will likely lose their jobs because they did not do what was right for the sake of the other leaders, the company, the employees, the families, and the investors. The last time, their boards gave them a pass. This next time, unprepared and overly aggressive leaders will not only lose their jobs. They likely will lose off-boarding bonuses and personal assets, as well as their careers and possibly their freedom.
Conclusion
Learning from the blunders of the first round of COVID-19, whether once properly funded academic studies find them to be as large as we suspect they are or not, is essential in preparing for future outbreaks, whether COVID or another highly dangerous (deadly and quick spreading) pathogen such as the Flu, RSV, and Pneumonia. These pathogens have already flooded many hospitals around the world. By implementing and making fully active, effective (thoughtful, powerful, and transformative) strategies, programs, systems, and tools, we can prevent, mitigate, and control the spread and thereby the impact of infectious disease attacks on our society--and thereby protect our workforce, families, and investors, among many others.
Cooperation, collaboration, and innovative and transformative actions between CEOs, government agency heads, government leaders, healthcare providers, and the public at large are critical to ensuring a resilient and well-prepared response to future large-sized attacks, one of which we believe will occur in the next three (probably human manufactured) to ten (probably nature-made) years.
Only through significant proactive measures and massive continuous improvement can we avoid the devastating consequences witnessed during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such harm was borne of recklessness. It damaged working-class people disproportionately. And it destroyed investors. It cannot be allowed to happen again. We must do our best to encourage our leaders, unions, and co-workers to "do the right thing."
A Public Service Announcement by Safely2Prosperity and Its Executive Chairman, Dr. John Norris
Safely2Prosperity (S2P) provides a "comprehensive infectious-disease spread risk-management solution," VirusVigilant, for business executives, government-agency heads, and nation leaders to protect their employees, families, investors, and many others. S2P's VirusVigilant "Infectious Disease Safety Program" (like a Fire Safety Program but much more sophisticated and complex) combines a SaaS platform with customized risk management tools for overseeing add-on packages of vaccinations, testing, therapeutics, and tracking technologies, among many others. It helps these leaders meet their moral, ethical, and legal responsibilities while, in the process, helping to protect and enhance workforce (and family) safety and productivity.
Thereby, VirusVigilant helps assure (it's not "insurance," but "assurance," for leaders, so "they can sleep at night," at 1,000 times less the cost) (1) business continuity, (2) revenue, (3) profits, (4) investor and insurer financial protection, and (5) the overall effectiveness and survival of the enterprise. With a focus on proactive measures, S2P offers a cost-effective, low-cost (as low as pennies per employee per month), intuitive solution for risk-managing infectious disease spread. "It's the spread that kills millions."
Dr. John Norris is a former FDA COO and Harvard faculty member who is recognized as an expert in preventing, mitigating, controlling, and otherwise risk-managing the "spread" of infectious diseases. He has published often on this or related topics, including as editor-in-chief of two academic publications, one at Harvard (which he founded some 50 years ago) and the other at Cornell. And gave many presentations on the need for change in health and healthcare systems, including 300 presentations worldwide. Finally, he helped reform the "regulatory procedures" used by the Joint Commission (which "regulates" hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes) and the US FDA (which regulates drug and medical device developers).
If you want to learn more about VirusVigilant, please get in touch with Dr. John Norris by text at 617-680-3127 or by email at John.Norris@Safely2Prosperity.com (mailto: John.Norris@Safely2Prosperity.com). S2P's website is safely2prosperity.com (http://safely2prosperity.com/).
(c) 2024 Safely2Prosperity LLC and Dr. John Norris. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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