Nation's governors map COVID-19 recovery strategy

The National Governors Association yesterday unveiled a roadmap for building the post-COVID-19 public health infrastructure and reopening the nation's economy. Among the group's recommendations is to ensure that the health care system is able to respond to potential surges, in which states should consider:

• developing metrics to assess the health care system's ability to safely treat both COVID-19 patients and all other patients requiring care without resorting to crisis standards of care;
• requiring that health care providers continuously report on numbers of health care worker infections, number of hospital beds and levels of personal protective equipment and other medical equipment (such as ventilators) across the health care system;
• partnering with industry and academic institutions to support PPE manufacturing;
• removing regulatory barriers to establishing alternative sites of care or repurposing existing sites to serve COVID-19 patients in a surge;
• expanding the pool of in-state and out-of-state licensed health care providers, expanding the use of telehealth and ensuring appropriate liability protections; and
• expanding support for health care workers, including services such as child care and eldercare.

The roadmap also seeks to strengthen national surveillance systems, in part by mandating data reporting by hospitals, laboratories and other points of care.