Conquer COVID

Of course, the only way to conquer COVID-19 is to widely immunize people of all ages across the globe with an effective vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. That will take years! What can be done NOW to prevent its transmission?

Individuals need to follow COVID-19 guidelines published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other experts, which are regularly updated based on new findings about the virus. Businesses need to -- at the very least -- follow guidelines and regulations published by their local, county, and state governments. Unfortunately, information about published guidelines and their updates has neither reached every individual nor every business. Furthermore, there is no standard means of enforcing the mandates. As long as people and businesses continue to behave as they please, ignorant of guidelines or perhaps even deliberately flouting them, COVID-19 will continue to spread.

The most effective way of dealing with the lackadaisical approach to fighting COVID is to have a national face mask mandate, with standardized explanations of what is expected and what fines will be levied for violations.