The nation needs a deep dive on COVID-19

The devastating consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are only now beginning to subside. More than 1.1 million Americans — including 9,358 Long Islanders — have lost their lives since it began. Countless others had their health and economic well-being severely impacted.

With the pandemic now declared over, some would bury its lessons along with the dead. But that would be a big mistake.

That’s why the effort to establish the National Task Force on the COVID-19 Pandemic, proposed by New York’s Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and a bipartisan group of senators, makes sense.

If enacted, the task force would perform a comprehensive review of how the nation responded to the crisis. More importantly, it also should look forward at how we can be better prepared for the next pandemic when it comes.

This task force would be similar to the 9/11 Commission, set up in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. As awful as that deadly event was for the nation, COVID affected many more people. Its impact will likely be felt for many years in aspects of our daily lives, including schools, hospitals, housing patterns and business communities.

This national COVID investigation would examine the U.S. government response to the virus, the effectiveness of public health messaging, our efforts at international cooperation in sharing information, and the woeful lack of available medical supplies and protective equipment like masks. Long delays in the supply chain for medical products to fight COVID would be studied. So would attempts to contain the virus by stopping domestic and international travel and the shutting down of all nonessential services.

LONG LOOK AT VACCINES

Looking to the future, the task force would also examine federal oversight in the development, testing and distribution of new vital treatments and vaccines to combat different strains of the virus. It would recommend ways to avoid stigma and discrimination in dealing with the next crisis and study disparities in infection and mortality rates among people of color and other vulnerable groups. We applaud the ambitious intent of the legislation to study the origins of COVID-19 and identify weaknesses in the current health systems in dealing with the disease.

Though not directly mentioned in the current bill, we hope this task force will build up public confidence in the efficacy of COVID vaccines and combat misinformation about them. The fast development of those vaccines was an astounding medical achievement and one of the best pandemic-related initiatives undertaken by former President Donald Trump. Evidence clearly shows that areas with high rates of vaccinations fared significantly better than places where people avoided getting a COVID shot.

Gillibrand told us that this task force will take an open-eyed look at mistakes that were made but hopefully avoid political games as Election Day 2024 nears. “This is not a finger-pointing exercise because there’s not enough fingers” to cover the blame, she said.

Northwell Health president and chief executive Michael J. Dowling, who oversees New York State’s largest hospital system, agrees a national task force is a good idea. But he rightly thinks a similar forward-looking state and local review also is needed, especially to build up infrastructure of medical personnel and equipment needed to react to the next pandemic.

GAME PLAN NEEDED

Northwell and other Long Island hospitals often found themselves trying to deal heroically with an onslaught of patients from this unprecedented medical crisis. “There was no real organized game plan,” said Dowling. We agree with his call for a new “culture of preparedness” that state and county health officials here should prioritize. Dowling thinks an improved Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — criticized for its slow and inconsistent response during this past pandemic — could be the right agency to oversee the federal response to the next crisis if its shortcomings are corrected.

Ideally, the national COVID task force could provide both accountability for the past and vision for the future that would also be a road map for states as well. The bill calls for a 12-member panel, appointed by both the Senate and House of Representatives. It will submit a final report to the president and Congress within 18 months of its first meeting. It would be empowered to hold hearings and subpoena witnesses and documents from both the Trump and Biden administrations. Those who refuse a subpoena could be punished by a federal district court for contempt.

Gillibrand said she could see Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, two top medical officials during the height of the crisis, appearing before the panel. Previously, Birx has testified that more than 130,000 American lives could have been saved during the early days of the pandemic if government had properly promoted mask-wearing and social distancing. Some may disagree with her deeply-disturbing estimate. But it’s one of many important questions that a national commission should address.

Too often the fight against COVID has been mired in disinformation, speculation and ignorance. Being prepared for the next pandemic is essential to national security and the world’s health at large. Both the living and the dead deserve clear thoughtful answers from such a vitally needed task force.