The U.S. health care system is a “sitting duck” in the face of a coming cluster of winter epidemics, one expert told Fortune.
COVID will likely reach levels in December not yet seen this year, combining with surges of flu, RSV, and other pathogens for a winter not so different from last year’s “tripledemic,” experts say.
Raj Rajnarayanan, assistant dean of research and associate professor at the New York Institute of Technology campus in Jonesboro, Ark., told Fortune that the U.S. is a “sitting duck” in the face of a “syndemic” winter.
It’s a term he prefers to “tripledemic,” as it acknowledges the impact of more than three pathogens on the healthcare system, and the need for policies to address the phenomenon, in addition to medical interventions.
“Strained hospital capacities, workforce exhaustion, burnout, a lack of effective therapeutic tools, poor communication, a lack of compliance [with COVID precautions], a lack of continuity planning, and the pervasive influence of social determinants of health” only make the nation’s delicate health infrastructure more fragile, he said.
The only thing that can save us from this is to give billions to big corporations again...and allow them to increase cost of goods by another 70%......
I am all for pointing out the fundamental issues with for-profit health care. But the funding of emergency vaccine research, expediting of testing and certification, and distribution of vaccines was all a pretty solid win. Its almost like we bypassed the insurance companies to provide every single person in the country with healthcare... The big problem is that we stopped.