Safety protocols for returning to the workforce are more important than ubiquitous coronavirus testing to resume economic normalcy, explained Dr. Anthony Harris, associate medical director and vice president of onsite clinical operations for WorkCare, an occupational health services company.
Harris discussed responses to the coronavirus outbreak in an interview on Thursday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.
Marlow asked, “Are you seeing anything that people are overemphasizing or getting way too much attention that you think should not be a focus?”
Harris replied, “Yeah, I think one of the things that people are trying to rely on is testing, right? ‘We’ve got to test. We’ve got to test. We’ve got to test. We’ve got to test everybody, every day,’ and that’s not going to be the answer, right?”
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Harris continued, “But being smart about testing, yes, we do need to test more in the U.S. Finding out who has had the disease and who have not so that we can protect those who are still vulnerable is key.”
Harris added, “Until we have a vaccine, we’ll be dealing with COVID, and it’ll be something that shouldn’t alarm everyone because we have ways to help deal with it. The biggest thing to know is not to panic. It is safe to go back to work when the doors open, but we have to have things in place to help protect the workforce.”
“If we don’t do something to help stem the tide of lost economic value, then we may not have anything to come back to when we talk about reopening the doors,” Harris remarked. “We have to provide ways to safely get people back and to do it quickly, and testing is only a small piece of it. The strategy on how you reopen — [including] the tools you provide help keep people safe, and education — is going to be key and far more important than just testing alone.”
Safety measures such as hand-washing hygiene and social distancing are more important than widespread testing in terms of reducing the coronavirus’ spread, determined Harris.
Harris explained, “If we look at testing, even in Wuhan, China, where they were knocking on doors and getting everybody out and trying to test far more than what we’re doing in the U.S., they were still only able to — in estimate — get to 41 percent of the people that were infected. So we know testing is not going to be the answer to making sure we’re back and thriving.”
Breitbart News Daily broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
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