Jean-Jacques Degroof is a longtime venture capital investor and professor of entrepreneurship, both in the United States and Europe. After graduating summa cum laude from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, Dr. Jean-Jacques Degroof went on to receive an MS and PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.
In March 2020, MIT Sloan professors Simon Johnson and Retsef Levi, who also serve as co-chairs of the COVID-19 Policy Alliance, wrote an op-ed piece for The Boston Globe titled “A possible path to protect our economy and hospitals from the coronavirus.” With social distancing policies becoming stricter and a complete lockdown emerging as a strategy for preventing a rapid spread that would overwhelm hospitals, the authors described a “hard choice between long-term lockdown and a collapsing economy.” They stated that it makes the most sense to focus on high-risk clusters, from senior living facilities to specific regions with many high-risk patients.
The COVID-19 Policy Alliance has developed a risk analytics tool to identify high-risk sites across the United States. A core recommendation is that each state set in place policies that prevent all individuals with positive or unconfirmed COVID-19 status from entering such facilities.
At the same time, expert teams should be set up that will train, guide, and enforce essential testing, isolation, and infection control activities. As an added precaution, screenings and testing can be overseen by experts through the use of telehealth platforms.
The authors state that, unfortunately, this type of synergy between technology, analytics, and intelligence does not yet exist at the state or national level.
In March 2020, MIT Sloan professors Simon Johnson and Retsef Levi, who also serve as co-chairs of the COVID-19 Policy Alliance, wrote an op-ed piece for The Boston Globe titled “A possible path to protect our economy and hospitals from the coronavirus.” With social distancing policies becoming stricter and a complete lockdown emerging as a strategy for preventing a rapid spread that would overwhelm hospitals, the authors described a “hard choice between long-term lockdown and a collapsing economy.” They stated that it makes the most sense to focus on high-risk clusters, from senior living facilities to specific regions with many high-risk patients.
The COVID-19 Policy Alliance has developed a risk analytics tool to identify high-risk sites across the United States. A core recommendation is that each state set in place policies that prevent all individuals with positive or unconfirmed COVID-19 status from entering such facilities.
At the same time, expert teams should be set up that will train, guide, and enforce essential testing, isolation, and infection control activities. As an added precaution, screenings and testing can be overseen by experts through the use of telehealth platforms.
The authors state that, unfortunately, this type of synergy between technology, analytics, and intelligence does not yet exist at the state or national level.
