The Seven P's of the Pandemic: How are We Measuring Up?

       "We did it; we rid ourselves of the virus!" Polio, that is. Earlier this year, an assortment of world health organizations recognized Nigeria as being free of any new cases of polio for a sufficient period of time to consider it 'polio free'. Quite a feat, considering that as recent as 2013 it accounted for about half of Africa's polio cases. How did Nigerians accomplish this? A number of articles analyzing all the relevant factors point to an ongoing assiduous assault by several organizations, including government, NGO's, and other volunteer groups in and outside of Nigeria. Further, a strong educational program accompanied by vaccinations made available to the public at large (as well as a willingness to be vaccinated, an outcome of the educational program) were highly instrumental.

       Locally, after making it to the MLB playoffs following a long drought, the Detroit Tigers' manager Jim Leyland reminded the players themselves as well as their fans the combination of factors it took to progress to this level. This ranged from not only an ongoing on/off field commitment from every player, to the front office staff and a legion of people too long to include in the article. He included a cautionary note of what it would take (even more effort) to duplicate such a feat.

       In "The Promise of a Pencil", reflecting on the noble accomplishment of successfully opening numerous public schools in impoverished countries, Adam Braun shares with the reader a similar set of relevant factors and host of people who collaborated over a sustained period (including, once again, a note of caution and 'dose of reality' of what it would take to even approximate such a level of success the next year). Hopefully, you are already seeing the 'pandemic parallels'. 

       Many elite forces in our armed services rely on the 'Seven P's' for both general training and preparation for any particular mission: Plentiful Preventive Planning Prevents Pi-- Poor Performance! Locally, a popular handyman radio personality incorporated a similar mantra for planning and successfully executing a home improvement project. 

       In contrast to the foregoing representations of sustained efforts following an initial strong commitment, the following Seven C's come closer to resembling our earlier and subsequent, less-than-spectacular, efforts to manage and eradicate COVID-19 from our midst: Complacent, Complicit Characters Carry COVID Cross Country. 

       Hopefully, a different alliteration resembling the Nigerian example can be offered in this space in the months to come.