Protect Your Event—Attend Safe Can Supply Your Test Kits
“The COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call for the global community to prepare now for the next health crisis,” said Jagan Chapagain, secretary general of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “Our recommendations to world leaders center around building trust, tackling inequality, and leveraging local actors and communities to perform lifesaving work. The next pandemic could be just around the corner; if the experience of COVID-19 won’t quicken our steps toward preparedness, what will?”
The IFRC is the world’s largest humanitarian network, made up of 192 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies around the world.
Sec. Gen. Chapagain hits the nail on the head: COVID-19 response has been a failure in leadership from the early days of “masks don’t work” (data shows that they work, but this early lie to buy time for hospitals to get personal protective equipment, still fills the minds of COVID deniers) to the late 2022 declaration that “the pandemic’s over,” as it continues killing more people each week than the attacks on Pearl Harbor or on New York and Washington on 9/11—both of which sent this country to war.
According to an IFRC announcement Monday, their network reached more than 1.1 billion people over the past three years to help keep them safe from the virus. A theme that emerged repeatedly was the importance of trust. People who trusted safety messages were willing to comply with public health measures in order to slow the spread of the disease and save lives. Similarly, it was only possible to vaccinate millions of people in record time when people trusted that the vaccines were safe and effective.
Crisis response can’t wait until the next time to build trust. It must be cultivated through genuinely two-way communication, proximity and consistent support over time, the IFRC said.
Trust is lacking in big parts of the U.S. Only about 3 in 20 Americans have gotten the latest, bivalent booster that protects against today’s dominant Omicron variants. The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both recommend that people wear masks in crowded spaces—especially indoors and on public transportation—yet we barely hear a whisper from our health leaders who fear political backlash.
Remember: “It’s the flu” is wrong. There’s no “long-flu” wrecking people’s lives for a year or more after they get infected.
Today’s leaders must know that a big step toward preparing for the next pandemic is truth. Communicate honestly. Show people the numbers. Address their concerns. Treat them like adults.
Bulk Tests to Protect Your People
Attend Safe offers bulk tests to help keep on-site operations and events on the calendar. Frequent, readily available testing is key to keeping safe. (The billionaires and politicians at Davos did it—so can you.) Give us a shout and we’ll get them to your site.
News worth noting
According to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dated Jan. 25, new COVID-19 deaths for the week ended that date totaled 3,756, down slightly from the weeks of Jan. 11 and Jan. 18, but still higher than any other week since April 6, 2022.
Amanda Schleede is founder and CEO of Attend Safe, which helps people attend to life with safe, secure and sensible protocols. Her leadership allows important events to proceed with safety-conscious protections. With Tuesday Tutor, she hopes others will benefit from her experience. Visit Attend Safe online at AttendSafe.com.