Flatten the COVID-19 curve

Yesterday afternoon the White House held a press conference and unveiled a 15-day plan with the aim to slow the spread of COVID-19 across the United States and attempt to keep the health care system from being overwhelmed.

The plan calls for limiting social gatherings to no more than 10 people; quarantining members of the household who test positive for the disease; and closing places where people usually congregate and restricting other communal gatherings. Those persons who have underlying health conditions should stay away from other people and working or schooling from home should occur, if possible.

During the press conference, Deborah Birx, MD, a top HIV/AIDS official and one of the more visible members of the coronavirus task force, said, "The reason we’re taking these strong and bold steps is because we know there is virus spread before you develop symptoms, and then we know that there’s a large group-we don’t know the precise percent yet-that actually is asymptomatic or has such mild cases that they continue to spread the virus."

The task force stressed that members of the public should not consider the 15th day as the end of the plan and return to normal life.

For more details on the plan, check out the full article from our sister publication, Managed Healthcare Executive.