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Editorial
. 2020 Apr 6;6(2):e19043.
doi: 10.2196/19043.

The Three Steps Needed to End the COVID-19 Pandemic: Bold Public Health Leadership, Rapid Innovations, and Courageous Political Will

Jodie L Guest  1   2 , Carlos Del Rio  1   2 , Travis Sanchez  1   3
Affiliations
Editorial

The Three Steps Needed to End the COVID-19 Pandemic: Bold Public Health Leadership, Rapid Innovations, and Courageous Political Will

Jodie L Guest et al. JMIR Public Health Surveill. .

Abstract

The world is experiencing the expansive spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a global pandemic that is placing strain on health care, economic, and social systems. Commitment to implementing proven public health strategies will require bold public health leadership and courageous acts by politicians. Developing new innovative communication, mitigation, and health care approaches, particularly in the era of social media, is also clearly warranted. We believe that the best public health evidence must inform activities in three priority areas to stop this pandemic: (1) coordinated and consistent stay-at-home orders across multiple jurisdictions, including potential nationwide mandates; (2) rapid scale-up of SARS-CoV-2 testing; and (3) improved health care capacity to respond. This editorial outlines those areas, the rationale behind them, and the call for innovation and engagement of bold public health leadership to empower courageous political action to reduce the number of deaths during this pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

References

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    1. John Hopkins University and Medicine. [2020-04-01]. Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at John Hopkins https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html.
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