[Snorlax94]

However, the USPHS was never tasked or funded to do nationwide pandemic contact tracing in every state and county. It has always been a county responsibility. The fact that Santa Clara County (and the other counties) can't do it isn't on the POTUS, whoever that is. It is on the Board of Supervisors and Sara Cody. If she has a plan but doesn't have a budget, speak up. I think she will get what she wants at this point. Any federal response at this point would take too long to organize. It needs to be grass roots or it isn't happening.

IMHO, the counties should be training up all firemen and police, including auxiliaries, as fast as they can to do this work...

I think it's an interesting idea to have local services help, and maybe they can, but I still think there needs to be leadership at a federal level.

If historically, this is not something that the USPHS has been tasked with, then it needs to be changed. There's a significant motive to fix things. That is part of the leadership vacuum.

People at the local level probably can be trained to help, but it needs coordination from the top. 

There are 3,007 counties in the United States. Should each of those 3,007 counties develop their own contact tracing software? Should each of them design their own websites and data sharing capabilities? From a software perspective, you'll have 3,007 different data formats, with different definitions for each label. You'll have 3,007 different training procedures for workers. Many smaller, poorer counties will be starting with very little.

If there's an outbreak in Santa Clara County, which moves to San Francisco, then later to the Central Valley, then to Las Vegas, there won't be enough knowledge sharing. Firemen in Reno will be starting from scratch even though there's a team with experience in the Bay Area. That's why it's so effective that China was able to send 1,500 epidemiologist to Wuhan, afterwards, they can move them wherever there is a new outbreak, and they'd take all that experience and hard-won knowledge with them.

Other things, like making more N95 masks isn't something a county really can do. I don't think Sara Cody can  show up at CISCO and demand they start making N95 masks. It's not like Sara Cody can demand more companies build more ventilators, nor can she single-handedly move America's testing capabilities up to South Korea's.

I do share your frustration that there appears to be a learned helplessness and lack of entrepreneurship at every level of government. Even though I don't think Sara Cody can or should single-handedly increase N95 mask production or approve new ways of running tests, I think SCC *needs* her to step up and create a county capability unlike any other. And Governor Newsom runs the 10th largest economy in the world. He, like others in CA and NY, should simply expect that no help is coming. The state has the ability to do a lot more on its own. Even if CA only tried to solve these problems at a state level, it would make Californians' lives better, and would also help the country. It might even show an example to the POTUS of what a real leader is supposed to do.

[Snorlax94]

However, the USPHS was never tasked or funded to do nationwide pandemic contact tracing in every state and county. It has always been a county responsibility. The fact that Santa Clara County (and the other counties) can't do it isn't on the POTUS, whoever that is. It is on the Board of Supervisors and Sara Cody. If she has a plan but doesn't have a budget, speak up. I think she will get what she wants at this point. Any federal response at this point would take too long to organize. It needs to be grass roots or it isn't happening.

IMHO, the counties should be training up all firemen and police, including auxiliaries, as fast as they can to do this work...

I think it's an interesting idea to have local services help, and maybe they can, but I still think there needs to be leadership at a federal level.

If historically, this is not something that the USPHS has been tasked with, then it needs to be changed. There's a significant motive to fix things. That is part of the leadership vacuum.

People at the local level probably can be trained to help, but it needs coordination from the top. 

There are 3,007 counties in the United States. Should each of those 3,007 counties develop their own contact tracing software? Should each of them design their own websites and data sharing capabilities? From a software perspective, you'll have 3,007 different data formats, with different definitions for each label. You'll have 3,007 different training procedures for workers. Many smaller, poorer counties will be starting with very little.

If there's an outbreak in Santa Clara County, which moves to San Francisco, then later to the Central Valley, then to Las Vegas, there won't be enough knowledge sharing. Firemen in Reno will be starting from scratch even though there's a team with experience in the Bay Area. That's why it's so effective that China was able to send 1,500 epidemiologist to Wuhan, afterwards, they can move them wherever there is a new outbreak, and they'd take all that experience and hard-won knowledge with them.

Other things, like making more N95 masks isn't something a county really can do. I don't think Sara Cody can  show up at CISCO and demand they start making N95 masks. It's not like Sara Cody can demand more companies build more ventilators, nor can she single-handedly move America's testing capabilities up to South Korea's.

I do share your frustration that there appears to be a learned helplessness and lack of entrepreneurship at every level of government. Even though I don't think Sara Cody can or should single-handedly increase N95 mask production or approve new ways of running tests, I think SCC *needs* her to step up and create a county capability unlike any other. And Governor Newsom runs the 10th largest economy in the world. He, like others in CA and NY, should simply expect that no help is coming. The state has the ability to do a lot more on its own. Even if CA only tried to solve these problems at a state level, it would make Californians' lives better, and would also help the country. It might even show an example to the POTUS of what a real leader is supposed to do.