Editorial: Pragmatic steps to be smart about Covid and improve lives--NY Times

Nearly two years into the pandemic, it is clear that the coronavirus is not going to disappear anytime soon. Surges will happen, variants of concern will pop up and mitigation strategies will need to evolve. Yet too many Americans are still paralyzed with doubt and fear over each new uncertainty, as trust in government and other institutions to manage the virus ranges from shaky to nonexistent.

It is past time to ask ourselves, as another Covid winter begins, if we have to keep living like this: Anxious over the unknown, worried about large indoor gatherings, tense at every bit of virus news and frustrated and at times contemptuous of fellow Americans who have a dramatically different sense of acceptable risk.

Because progress has been made this year. Vaccines that protect against serious illness and death are taking ever greater hold in the United States and are beginning to make their way to the world’s most vulnerable regions; drugs that work against the virus are coming through the pipeline; and, despite a recent uptick in cases, schools and businesses remain open.

Americans should pause a moment and let this progress sink in. The virus will continue to surprise us, and even when scientists manage to predict its worst turns, officials will not necessarily be able to prevent those turns from coming. But what if leaders at all levels made choices so that we don’t have to exhaust ourselves with stress over every curve ball? To help us all live more normally with this virus, rather than let it control us? ...

It’s too soon to say how long the current surge will last, or how it might be shaped by the Omicron variant. But even amid that uncertainty, we should push for a more pragmatic path from our decision makers that will help us protect ourselves and live more normal lives, even as the virus continues to evolve.

Make coronavirus testing as fast, easy and inexpensive as possible. Ubiquitous testing could help schools stay open and make gatherings of every kind safer. With more than 1,000 people still dying of Covid-19 every day in the United States, it’s past time to make this basic tool as readily available as it is in other countries like South Korea or Britain. President Biden’s latest plan — which would require people with private health insurance to submit a claim for reimbursement and people without insurance or private coverage to hunt down free tests at community health centers — does not do nearly enough to achieve that goal. ...

Aim to make the 2021-2022 school year the last dominated by Covid. The Biden administration should have enough testing free and available — and push to have a critical mass of students vaccinated — by September. ...

Quarantine and isolation policies will also need an upgrade.

Masking in schools is uniquely challenging. No one wants to force young children to wear masks for several hours a day indefinitely, but it would also be foolish to abandon the practice completely. A happy medium may be to require masks for students during surges or when new variants of concern are detected and vaccine escape is still being measured. The rest of the time, evidence so far suggests the requirement could be lifted. ...

Prepare for surges. No scientist or health official has managed to predict, or even explain after the fact, what constellation of forces causes the pandemic to ebb and flow around the globe the way it does. But it’s clear that there will continue to be periods of substantial uptick in coronavirus cases, and there should be sensible, significantly better policies in place for dealing with them. ...

Keep going on vaccines. Public health powers were once a common feature of American life. When cholera and yellow fever routinely stalked the nation’s major cities, citizens accepted and expected their health departments to issue mandates, quarantine orders and travel restrictions. It’s crucial for officials to shore up those powers now, because scientists say that epidemics and pandemics will become only more common in the years ahead. Mr. Biden’s vaccine mandates have been bold and effective — and administration officials should stay the course no matter how many legal battles they encounter. ...

Even as we remain vigilant against the coronavirus, we need not remain in a state of paralyzing hypervigilance. Returning to the sound basics of public health, continuing the progress of medical innovation and ratcheting back the societal anxiety around the pandemic could make us all a lot healthier.