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This month, world health leaders will gather virtually as part of a special session to discuss ways to balance pandemic preparedness with economic growth. Nearly two years into the world’s first-ever respiratory pandemic, a shocking total of five million people have perished - and many more permanently debilitated - from the disease. We continue to struggle with the best course of action to keep communities healthy.
As a medical professional and as an employer in respiratory health during COVID-19, reducing the risk to employees has been top of mind, and, as important, ensuring continuity of business. These goals are interrelated, as no company or even economy can perform without a healthy and productive workforce. Likewise, no employee can or should be expected to perform their duties effectively without faith that their employer believes that the health of every employee matters.
Based on my conversations with medical associations, global policymakers, frontline healthcare workers and regulators across 36 countries where my company does business, the following are my key lessons learned about how to ensure the health of our communities:
1) Vaccination is one pillar in a strong defense against COVID-19. Previous pandemics such as Ebola or SARS required changes in behavior to ensure essential workers’ safety, such as reduced social contact or enhanced attention to handwashing. We should continue those measures. When it comes to COVID-19, vaccination is also a tremendous asset, which is why earlier this year I along with over 60 thought leaders, advocates and others in the private sector urged G20 leaders to consider a policy framework to ensure pandemic preparedness, including a goal of 40% vaccination coverage.
2) Lower and middle income countries should demand quality respiratory protection products. LMIC leaders are already familiar with basic protective gear due to experience with tuberculosis and therefore know to include those solutions in their country plans to the Global Fund, UNICEF and the World Bank. But as they draft their COVID-19 relief plans, LMICs should consider investing in more durable and more effective protective gear. Because COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, there are more solutions available than was the case with previous pandemics, ranging from basic treatment like access to oxygen to preventative tools such as more advanced respiratory protection. For example, a Powered Air Purifying Respirator or “PAPR” is 99.97% effective, and it offers other benefits such as reusability and is durable enough to survive years of stockpiling.
3) An effective policy framework can ensure healthcare workers’ safety. It may sound surprising, but health policymakers have much to learn from the mining industry. Because the mining industry in the U.S. for instance already had highly stringent standards in place, and given the advances in respiratory protection technology, some agencies such as the Mine Safety and Health Administration have waived vaccination requirements for workers. We in the private sector have also borrowed technology from the mining industry for application in the health sector. 10 years ago, the best available protective gear weighed a whopping 15 pounds and had snake-like tubes which made sitting down impossible. Today, thanks to innovation, protective gear can be very lightweight, in our case as little as two pounds. Additionally, face masks can be designed to adapt to a full and half face mask.
4) All workers are essential. What has been most surprising to me during this pandemic is the distinction some employers and policymakers are making between “highest risk” employees like doctors, nurses and emergency service - and “lower risk” employees such as truck drivers, postal employees or meat packers. In my view, day-to-day contact with other workers during the course of regular business has enhanced the risk to our workforce, and performing daily tasks is no doubt more stressful than pre-pandemic settings. The most recent data on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health have come from healthcare workers, and other studies have documented that those who did perish were most concerned with access to sufficient PPE.
What’s truly the highest risk to our health - and the health of our economy - is if employers fail to adapt to the reduced-contact mentality needed to combat a respiratory pandemic. The silver lining in COVID-19 is that nearly two years into it, the proper tools and training exist for pandemic preparedness. No worker should perish while performing their duty - or exit the labor market altogether due to fear of infection. I urge policymakers to embrace the highest standards for all workers. It is our greatest hope of ensuring a resilient global economy while beating this pandemic.
Dr. Alex Birrell is CEO of an award-winning manufacturer of a reusable Personal Respiratory Protection for workers in clinical settings, CleanSpace Technology. She is a member of Pandemic Action Network, an advocacy organization for pandemic preparedness.
Re: Covid and flu: what do the numbers tell us about morbidity and deaths?
Dear Editor
This month, world health leaders will gather virtually as part of a special session to discuss ways to balance pandemic preparedness with economic growth. Nearly two years into the world’s first-ever respiratory pandemic, a shocking total of five million people have perished - and many more permanently debilitated - from the disease. We continue to struggle with the best course of action to keep communities healthy.
As a medical professional and as an employer in respiratory health during COVID-19, reducing the risk to employees has been top of mind, and, as important, ensuring continuity of business. These goals are interrelated, as no company or even economy can perform without a healthy and productive workforce. Likewise, no employee can or should be expected to perform their duties effectively without faith that their employer believes that the health of every employee matters.
Based on my conversations with medical associations, global policymakers, frontline healthcare workers and regulators across 36 countries where my company does business, the following are my key lessons learned about how to ensure the health of our communities:
1) Vaccination is one pillar in a strong defense against COVID-19. Previous pandemics such as Ebola or SARS required changes in behavior to ensure essential workers’ safety, such as reduced social contact or enhanced attention to handwashing. We should continue those measures. When it comes to COVID-19, vaccination is also a tremendous asset, which is why earlier this year I along with over 60 thought leaders, advocates and others in the private sector urged G20 leaders to consider a policy framework to ensure pandemic preparedness, including a goal of 40% vaccination coverage.
2) Lower and middle income countries should demand quality respiratory protection products. LMIC leaders are already familiar with basic protective gear due to experience with tuberculosis and therefore know to include those solutions in their country plans to the Global Fund, UNICEF and the World Bank. But as they draft their COVID-19 relief plans, LMICs should consider investing in more durable and more effective protective gear. Because COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, there are more solutions available than was the case with previous pandemics, ranging from basic treatment like access to oxygen to preventative tools such as more advanced respiratory protection. For example, a Powered Air Purifying Respirator or “PAPR” is 99.97% effective, and it offers other benefits such as reusability and is durable enough to survive years of stockpiling.
3) An effective policy framework can ensure healthcare workers’ safety. It may sound surprising, but health policymakers have much to learn from the mining industry. Because the mining industry in the U.S. for instance already had highly stringent standards in place, and given the advances in respiratory protection technology, some agencies such as the Mine Safety and Health Administration have waived vaccination requirements for workers. We in the private sector have also borrowed technology from the mining industry for application in the health sector. 10 years ago, the best available protective gear weighed a whopping 15 pounds and had snake-like tubes which made sitting down impossible. Today, thanks to innovation, protective gear can be very lightweight, in our case as little as two pounds. Additionally, face masks can be designed to adapt to a full and half face mask.
4) All workers are essential. What has been most surprising to me during this pandemic is the distinction some employers and policymakers are making between “highest risk” employees like doctors, nurses and emergency service - and “lower risk” employees such as truck drivers, postal employees or meat packers. In my view, day-to-day contact with other workers during the course of regular business has enhanced the risk to our workforce, and performing daily tasks is no doubt more stressful than pre-pandemic settings. The most recent data on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health have come from healthcare workers, and other studies have documented that those who did perish were most concerned with access to sufficient PPE.
What’s truly the highest risk to our health - and the health of our economy - is if employers fail to adapt to the reduced-contact mentality needed to combat a respiratory pandemic. The silver lining in COVID-19 is that nearly two years into it, the proper tools and training exist for pandemic preparedness. No worker should perish while performing their duty - or exit the labor market altogether due to fear of infection. I urge policymakers to embrace the highest standards for all workers. It is our greatest hope of ensuring a resilient global economy while beating this pandemic.
Dr. Alex Birrell is CEO of an award-winning manufacturer of a reusable Personal Respiratory Protection for workers in clinical settings, CleanSpace Technology. She is a member of Pandemic Action Network, an advocacy organization for pandemic preparedness.
Competing interests: No competing interests