Beginning in late 2019, cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology were reported in Wuhan, China. Most patients worked at or lived around the local Huanan seafood wholesale market, where live animals were also sold. Published literature can trace the beginning of symptomatic individuals to the beginning of December 2019, although there are anecdotal reports in the nonscientific literature of illness of unknown etiology several weeks earlier. On January 7, 2020, a novel coronavirus was identified by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (C-CDC). Named 2019nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO) and on January 30, 2020, the outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the WHO. A Declaration of Public Health Emergency for Novel Corona Virus-2019 was issued by HHS Secretary Alex Azar on January 31, 2020. On February 11, 2020, the WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that the disease caused by this new CoV was “COVID-19,” which is the acronym of “coronavirus disease 2019”.
Although sporadic cases of COVID-19 had been imported into the United States since January, on February 26, 2020, the first case of the disease not imported from China was recorded in the United States. The WHO raised the threat of the COVID-19 epidemic to the “very high” level on February 28, 2020. On March 13, 2020, President Donald Trump issued a Proclamation on Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak. On March 19, 2020, the High Alert Institute, the philanthropic arm of the Renaissance Worldwide Solutions family of companies, was tasked with reviewing the peer reviewed scientific literature regarding COVID-19 for the purpose of establishing benchmarks for safety and efficacy of antiviral drug regimens against the disease. The purpose of this effort was to identify the most promising antiviral drug regimens in the literature and propose a treatment protocol for COVID-19. In response to the tasking, Managing Members Allison Sakara and Mona Kelley ordered that all research and analytics resources for the Renaissance Worldwide Solutions family of companies be donated to the High Alert Institute in support of the effort to find an antiviral treatment for COVID-19.
“The inability of researchers and healthcare providers to quickly identify safe and efficacious antiviral drugs against COVID-19 during a pandemic punctuates the importance of medical regulatory research methods,” stated Allison Sakara, Executive Director of the High Alert Institute and Managing Member of Renaissance Worldwide Solutions, LLC. “Literature-Derived Objective Performance Criteria (OPC) are a widely accepted benchmark for the evaluation of the performance of drugs and medical devices when randomized control trials are unavailable or the need for an interim treatment regimen is great.”
Additionally, the World Health Organization has determined that environmental factors such as poor indoor air quality, poor water quality and noise pollution are detrimental to the overall health of the world’s population. The CDC Interim Guidance to Businesses and Employers recommends all businesses “increase the amount of air exchanges in the common work areas and other rooms employees share,” said CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield during the April 8, 2020 White House Corona Virus Briefing.
“The RWS family of companies are concerned about the impact of Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) on people across the United States and worldwide. Each of our subsidiaries addresses some aspect of SDoH through its products and services.,” says Mona Kelley, Managing Member of Renaissance Worldwide Solutions, LLC. “We are proud that our subsidiary, Natural Air E-Controls, LLC, is the only company with patented technology to safely increase air exchanges in low-rise business buildings and homes using a sensor-based ventilation controller. Our system can help protect essential workers from COVID-19 infection by optimizing indoor air quality while saving on the overall costs of operating an HVAC system
“Our companies are not only owned by women, but nurse run,” Mona states beaming. “Working to set benchmarks for antiviral drug performance and helping to identify potential treatment regimens is a professional and ethical obligation. Medical & Regulatory Affairs Specialists, LLC (MRAS) and our new subsidiary Failure Event Database Search Engine, LLC (FEDS-Engine) perform these types of reviews for our clients worldwide. With the advent of COVID-19, we are donating our services for the greater good.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the dangers of stale indoor air, poor air quality and the environmental dangers that disproportionately impact the essential workers across the nation,” warns Allison. “These Essential Workers facilitate the emergency support functions necessary for our survival during disaster and pandemics as well as during the recovery after the stay-at-home orders and quarantines end. It is imperative that every workplace and home follow the recommendations of the CDC for frequent fresh air exchanges with outside air. We must provide for the care and safety of our citizens and ensure that all Essential Workers, First Responders, Healthcare Workers and their families be protected and supported at work and at home.” Mona adds, “Supporting an Essential Workers Bill of Rights Position Statement is a natural extension of our daily work”.
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