Three Things All Governments Should Do to Confront a Pandemic

There are 3 important things that any government must do if it wishes to survive a pandemic.

1. Provide Accurate and Truthful Information

Any government should provide accurate, current, and truthful information about the pandemic. Certainly, as a pandemic unfolds the situation changes rapidly. Government agencies and spokespeople should acknowledge the fluidity of the situation. Providing conflicting information from various agencies will lead to confusion among the general population. Covering up or misleading the public will lead to distrust of official announcements and recommendations. Dismissing or downplaying the serious potential of a pandemic can lead to fear and general anxiety. Failure of the government to provide truthful and accurate information can lead to panic and possibly mass hysteria. 

What can be done?

Provide a unified voice from the government by public health officials who understand what is going on and have credibility with the public.  Let these public health officials speak freely and honestly about the parameters of the pandemic. Provide a daily update to the public by these individuals.

A government should set up a national hotline with knowledgeable government employees taking calls and responding to any and all questions relating to the pandemic. Nothing can be more reassuring than talking to another human being about concerns and actions to take as a pandemic progresses.

2. Provide Supplies and Protection for Health Care Workers

A pandemic is a foreign invader, it cannot be stopped by soldiers or generals. The front-line defense against a pandemic are all of the healthcare workers and their support staff. These individuals include doctors, nurses, medical technicians, laboratory support staff, first responders, and the support and maintenance staff of health facilities.  

Healthcare staff and facilities around the world are working at capacity even before a pandemic begins. Healthcare staff of all specialties will be pressed into service to aid in treatment of pandemic cases. A pandemic will overwhelm staff and facilities. Just because there is a pandemic, regular medical issues will not go away. In addition to treating the influx of pandemic patients, other medical aspects such as caring for acute trauma, monitoring chronic conditions, assisting in births, etc. will continue to be necessary. 

What can be done?

The government should be responsible for making sure that adequate supplies such as masks, gowns, gloves, are available to all staff. Ample supplies of medications and tests should also be available. These health care workers need to be assured that they have all the resources they need to treat patients and not get sick themselves.

Health care workers should not be burdened by paperwork exercises, filling out forms, and looking up insurance codes. They should be 100% focused on taking care of sick people. 

Healthcare workers are the soldiers of a pandemic crisis. They can be subject to anxiety and psychological stress such as PTSD just like any other soldier. The government should do all it can to lessen the physical and psychological pressures and provide extensive crisis management for these healthcare workers.  

3. Have a Clear Pandemic Plan 

The government needs to have a clear public plan in place for dealing with the myriad of problems that accompany a pandemic. Does the government have a rational plan for quelling concerns among the population? Is it ready to bolster weak links in the supply chain to ensure that critical infrastructure remains intact? Will adequate supplies of food, water, electricity, gas, and oil be properly delivered to people who are in desperate need?

What can be done?

The government needs to have a coherent communication plan in place if various avenues of official news and information are disrupted.  One thing the government can do minimize the effect of a pandemic is to make sure that all treatment for the disease is free, no one should have to pay for treatment. Everyone should have equal opportunity for treatment and recovery. Any vaccination, when it becomes available, should be free to every citizen. 

A pandemic will eventually end. At that time the government will be responsible for bringing the broken pieces of the economy and society back together again. The government will need to have a massive deficit spending plan to jump start the economy once the pandemic is over. Extensive spending will be necessary to put people back to work and to bolster the supply chain and infrastructure in order return to a semblance regular life. Only then will the populations have the faith that things will eventually return to normal.

Any government that does not address these 3 issues will not instill confidence in the general public. It would demonstrate that the government is incapable of managing a pandemic crisis. Failure to manage a pandemic crisis could result in more infections, poorer treatment, greater loss of life, and perhaps  even a permanent lowering of the standard of living.