As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States will likely face a massive wave of death and disability from common chronic diseases that will affect society for decades, one expert warns.
"Our national health statistics were headed in the wrong direction before the pandemic, and COVID has caused an acceleration of these negative trends," Califf, now head of clinical policy and strategy, Verily Life Sciences and Google Health, South San Francisco, told"I worry that a pandemic-weary America will not make the needed changes to blunt the predicted increase in common chronic disease deaths and disability.
He also proposes a new effort, called Operation Warp Evidence, modeled after the rapid COVID vaccine effort known as Operation Warp Speed, which led to rapid development of COVID vaccines. "The fight against COVID-19 has given us a glimpse of what is possible. If we act now, we can significantly reduce the damage from the impending tsunami" of disability and death from chronic health conditions, Califf concludes.note that the healthcare system has risen to the challenge of three simultaneous pandemics — COVID-19, economic disruption, and social injustice — even as many inherent fragilities have been exposed.
"The people who've had their careers most interrupted have been the women scientists who have children, and we will have to find ways to get these people back into the system to play catch up," Wenger said.
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