----By healthcare business consultant David E. Williams, president of Health Business Group.
Let the porn industry reopen the economy
We've heard it over and over again. We can't reopen the economy until we have a robust testing process in place for #coronavirus. Employees need to be tested frequently so they can return to work and stay on the job without infecting others and causing the whole worksite to have to close down and stay shut.Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the CDC and much of the rest of the federal government have demonstrated sustained incompetence on getting testing going. Countries like Germany and China are organizing testing programs and restarting their economies.Obviously we aren't Asia or Europe. We need an American solution! And we need an adult in the room.The obvious answer is to enlist the adult film industry in returning the economy to normalcy. The industry has operated a testing system successfully for years to stave off threats of infections from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.From Rewire.News
The [Free Speech Coalition] took over managing sexual health protocols for the mainstream, straight porn world in 2011. It has since developed a set of testing guidelines known as the Performer Availability Screening Services (PASS) system. The guidelines have shifted over the years, but as of today, performers in the system test every two weeks for HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, Hepatitis B and C, and trichomoniasis at a handful of clinics that partner with the FSC. If performers test positive for any non-HIV infection, a central database visible to agents, studios, and other performers automatically flags them as unavailable for work until they test negative. It also flags them if they have gone more than two weeks without being tested...Unlike old systems of bringing copies of a recent test to a set, this database system protects performers’ real identities and medical information—and prevents test doctoring to hide results, an issue that has led to outbreaks of STIs like syphilis in the past.
Here is some background from the PASS website. Forgot about the titillating nature of the work for a moment. Replace "performer" with employee and there you have it. Why wouldn't we want the same thing for other workplaces?
Performer Availability Scheduling Services provides guidelines and services for the adult production industry designed to ensure a safe and healthy work environment of performers and adult film professionals. The program includes:
- A series of nationwide testing sites providing low cost, high-quality testing in a timely manner
2. Performers have electronic access to testing results directly from labs3. Variety of medical providers for treatment of performers in need of medical follow-up4. Consistent standards and guidelines for testing and treatment of adult performers5. A secure database that ensures performer privacy and protects producer liability6. Protocol for performer support in the event of a positive HIV test result, including funding for testing of 1st and 2nd generation partners
It's time for Dr. Fauci to team up with stars of the adult film industry to replace the President's daily briefing with a more informative, entertaining and productive replacement.Strange times make for strange bedfellows. So be it!