‘Motivating people.’ Mr. Andy Slavitt said: “CEOs should authorize office workers before sending back office workers.
“The beginning of 2022 will be difficult,” Slavitt told CNN in a phone interview.
“The problem with Omicron is that hotspots are easier to create,” says Slavitt. “Things that could have two or three Covid recipients in the office would be 15 or 30 Covid recipients.”
“If I were an employer with the option to let people work virtual, I would continue to do that,” he said, adding that not every company “has that luxury.”
Two doses are not enough
Regarding the Omicron variant, Slavitt said “there is no doubt” that CEOs should ask employees to use boosters.
“Omicron would certainly have turned this vaccine into a three-dose vaccine, if it hadn’t gone that way,” he said. “Two doses won’t be enough anymore.”
“Motivate people. If people get motivated, that’s your best bet to get people back,” says Slavitt, referring to how business leaders should approach cultural return plans. room.
Jefferies said it would require anyone wanting to enter any office or attend an event to be given a booster dose of medication by January 31, unless they are not already eligible to do so.
‘It’s irresponsible and won’t have a happy ending’
Several sports leagues have been affected by Covid-19 cases in recent days.
Slavitt urges companies to invest in good ventilation and regularly check homes for important events when employees get back together.
“If there’s a big outbreak, you’ve got to close the door,” says Slavitt. “The problem is, it’s hard to get the police on every weak link if this is really spreading.” “If we just say, ‘I want my people to be together but aren’t willing to do anything to make it safe,’ that’s irresponsible and won’t end well.”
When asked to rate from 1 to 10 his level of concern for Omicron, Slavitt said he only worries about empowered people and in communities where a lot of people are supported.
But that number rises to 6 or 7 in communities where fewer people are vaccinated.
“We would live in most communities with Delta plus Omicron, rather than one community replacing the other,” Slavitt said. “In parts of the country that haven’t been vaccinated, I’m very worried.”
JPMorgan isn’t right to say 2022 is the end of the pandemic, says Slavitt
“I think it will be manageable,” said Slavitt. “Many of us mentally live by the 2020 mindset. But now we have seven or eight interventions: the rapid testing we can give people, boosters, ventilation, therapy.”
Of course, different parts of the country will react differently to Omicron.
“There is a bit of a personality difference in how people react,” says Slavitt. “Ron DeSantis will likely run without a mask into the ICUs without fear. But those in the Northeast, Upper Midwest, California and Pacific Northwest will have to be extra cautious.”
When asked if JPMorgan was correct in saying 2022 would be the year the pandemic ended, Slavitt said no.
“They’re not right. Could 2022 be the year the state of emergency ends? Maybe,” he said. “But that’s not the year that SARS-CoV-2 stopped circulating or hundreds of thousands of people in this country stopped dying.”
