Biden’s Pandemic Response Overhaul

happened in virus news today. The UK became the first Western country to approve a fully vetted COVID nineteen vaccine. The region's regulator cleared FIGHTSER and bio En text shot this week, sooner than the US and the European Union. The emergency authorization clears the way for the deployment of a vaccine that Fightser and its German partner have said iscent effective in preventing illness. The shot will be available

in Britain starting next week. INTERPOL issued a global warning to law enforcement that organized crime will target COVID nineteen vaccines. The International Crime Fighting organizations that authority should expect an onslaught of all types of criminal activity linked to the shot. Interpol said some criminals have already begun advertising, selling and administering fake vaccines. They added that ensuring the safety of the supply chain and identifying illicit websites offering fake products

will essential. Finally, the World Health Organization has updated its guidance on wearing masks. People should wear masks indoors and outdoors where physical distancing of at least one meter can't be maintained. The organization said that's especially true in areas with community or cluster transmission. At home, people should wear a mask when receiving visitors in case of crowding or

poor ventilation. The WHO recommended against wearing a mask during vigorous workouts, as well as against the use of valved masks. Face shields provide a level of eye protection only in our inferior to masks when it comes to droplet transmission and prevention. And now for today's main story, Tackling the surging Corona virus outbreak in the US is priority number one for President elect Joe Biden and Vice President elect

Kamala Harris. Last month, by named a thirteen member team of doctors and scientists who will advise the new administration in responding to the pandemic. Dr Selene Gownder, an infectious disease physician and epidemialogist, is one of those doctors. Jordan Gospore spoke with Dr Gownder about the makeup of this COVID nineteen Advisory Board and how a Biden White House will approach the pandemic very differently from the Trump administration.

What is the difference between the advisory board that you sit on and the Coronavirus Task Force team? Is there a difference between those two designations. Yeah, So it's really interesting you ask that, because I actually had to ask for some clarification around some of this language myself. So you have the current White House Coronavirus Task Force, which

has led by Vice President Mike Pence. We're all familiar with many of the members, which include Dr Deborah Brooks, Dr Tony Faucci, Dr Robert Redfield, Dr Jerome Adams, and others. So that is the current administration task force. Then you have the Biden Harris Transition Team, which has actually been working on these issues for months now, even before the election. I mean, you have to really develop your policy and plans well in advance so that you are ready if

you are elected. And so there's a very deep bench of scientists and doctors and public health and policy experts who have been working on these issues for months, and that's the transition team. Then you have the Advisory Board, which was recently named, which I suppose you could say

sort of the counterpart to the task force. But I think part of the reason for calling it the Advisory Board is that our job really is to provide advice to the Biden Harrassed transition team and to the President elect and vice president elect, and to function as sort of a second set of eyes on the plans that the transition team has been developing, to be thinking creatively, to be thinking big and providing our feedback, and then also to function as something of a liaison between the

transition team and the public that could be in the form of interviews like this, and then also to help liaise if we're asked. And then there's a need to liaise with state and local officials, including governors and public health officials, as well as with the private sector. So that could be with the vaccine companies or with the retail pharmacy chains who are going to be really important with distribution of vaccines. So we function as sort of

a layer on top of the transition team. You could say, what role will the CDC and the World Health Organization play in this task force? You're going to see the establishment of a new task force under the new administration, and there will no doubt be representation from the CDC, including whoever is the the director of the CDC at that time. We are planning to re establish normal relations with the World Health Organization. That's you know, really a

return to normalcy. They will not be on the task force per se. They are not now, but you will see a normalization of relationship with the World Health Organization moving forward. What will be considered an essential service once Biden is in office in January. I think the way to think about what is a frontline or essential worker is, first of all, what are jobs that can only be done in person? And what are services we really cannot

live without? So we can't live without food, we can't live with our prescription medicines, and you know, some basic hygienic supplies and schools really are important, not just for the education in an academic way, but also for the social and emotional supports that they provide, the social work supports that they provide, and schools are also a really important provider of food to kids. Unfortunately, many children in this country live in poverty, and so that is an

essential service that schools are also providing. I found a lot of of the interviews that you've done, um, the things that you've said around how the task Force is going to help communities that are unequipped to deal with outbreaks very fascinating, specifically with Indigenous populations and Rule populations, and so wanting to to pick your brain a little bit here about how the task Force is planning to

help those communities, in particular Rule and Indigenous populations. Well, I think that has to start with how you collect your data, because you can't address disparity without knowing that there is a disparity, the nature of the disparity, you know. One common problem with indigenous populations is that they're often misclassified in terms of their race and ethnicity. This is something as somebody who's a brown person I have experienced myself.

I'm not indigenous, but I am a I guess you could say, non specific looking brown person, and in this country, that means you generally get classified as Hispanic. My dermatologist here in New York City classified me as Hispanic, and I am not Hispanic in the medical record. And so the problem with that is if an indigenous person gets misclassified, you're not actually able to properly assess and study what the risks and outcomes and so on are in that population.

So that's a really important starting point, is just getting the data right. You know, another issue that we've seen with communities of color, and this is really throughout the country, including in urban areas as well. We've seen fewer number of coronavirus testing sites in poorer communities of color than in wider, wealthier communities, which means that it's a lot easier to get tested if you live in a white,

wealthy community then in a community of color. The lines have been longer at testing facilities and communities of color. And if you're being paid by the hour on your your job, if you're a wage worker, that means every minute, every hour that you're standing in line is also income lost. So you know, this is something that really does need

to be addressed. We need to be decentralizing as much as possible some of these services, especially to communities that are underserved, whether that's a community of color in urban areas or out to rural areas. Will there be an opportunity for free testing once Biden gets into office. Yeah, I think free testing free vaccination are both very high priorities.

The current administration had promised free testing and access to testing to every American who wanted testing, and that simply has not been the case because it's not just the cost of the test, it's also the cost of everything

that goes into providing somebody with a test. So that's the collection of the specimen, the swabs, the nurse time, the doctor's office visit, or hospital visit, and so a lot of people got surprise bills for their coronavirus tests as a result of that, and that is something we really want to make sure does not happen. That all of those costs are covered, whether that's for a test or for a vaccination. And so my final question is around mandatory mask squaring. How will the Task Force implement

mandatory mask wearing? It is this is something that's still being discussed. Yeah, I think there is going to be conversation with the states, with the governors around MASK mandates at the state level. But I think big picture, the most important thing is to try to get people to

do the right thing on their own. I think people, especially in the United States, really don't like to be told what to do, and that's the honest Enforcement of a mandate is going to be a challenge, and so to really have people understand, look, mass or effective, they're cheap, they don't shut down the economy. If what you care about is keeping the economy open, this is one of the most important things you can do right now. Not

to mention that it will save many lives. This is you know, the politicization of mass is like politicizing toilet paper. You know this idea that based on your political party, you would or would not use toilet paper. I mean, this is a basic hygienic measure. And so we just need to to reframe our thinking about it and understand that, you know, big picture, this is not a hugely burdensome

thing that can have tremendous impact. How would you get someone in these these communities too that are refusing to wear masks? I mean, would you need to implement a fine or some sort of punishment. I mean the the challenges of course enforcement again, and that you're going to have to have local law enforcement agreeing to work with you on that. I'm not sure that local law enforcement would work with you on that. So in general, I prefer the carrot versus the stick approach. I think it

makes behaviors stickier and more acceptable. And I think the couple of things I would suggest in terms of how to achieve behavior change, The fact is, if you look at the most recent surveys, over nine of Americans are now wearing masks. They may not be doing it perfectly, they may not be doing it all the time, but the vast majority of Americans are doing this, and it's really small pockets a very strong resistance to this where you're not seeing that. And so I think one to

say this is becoming a social norm. I think it's helpful people tend to behave based on what is the behavior around them. I think another thing you can do is in a more personal situation, like say you're in line at the grocery checkout and somebody is not wearing a mask. I think it would be helpful for all of us to have mass on us extra ones, and you know, maybe you reach out to them and you say, hey, here's the here's you know, you seem like a carrying

kind in person. Would you be willing to wear this mask to protect me? Because what you're doing there is you're framing, you're labeling them as a something positive, and then you're giving them the opportunity to live up to that and reinforce that positive label. So I think that's also, you know, depending on the situation, something else you can try.

And then finally, I think we need to be reaching out to local leaders, community leaders in these pockets of resistance, and they should really be the ones leading the charge

on this. And so you really need to be working in collaboration with people from the community, identifying those who might be at least somewhat sympathetic, educating them, providing them with the science, empowering them to be the leader on this issue in their community, and then let them really run with it because they're the ones that are more likely to be trusted on this. That was Jordan Gaspoure in conversation with Dr Selene Gownder, and that's it for

our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from one and twenty bureaus around the world. Visit Bloomberg dot com, slash Coronavirus, and if you like the show, please leave us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by Topha foreheads Jordan Gaspoore, Magnus Henriksen, and me Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Jordan Gaspore. Original music by

Leo Sidran. Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesca Levi. Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening. Let