Private Sector Joins Together to Reopen U.S. Economy with Rapid COVID-19 Testing

NEW YORK, March 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In an effort to help safely and effectively reopen the U.S. economy faster during the COVID-19 pandemic, three prominent organizations have come together to launch the U.S. Rapid Action Consortium, a system designed to accelerate the use of safe, cost-effective rapid COVID-19 testing to better enable businesses to return to the office safely. Built off the highly successful Canadian model, the U.S. expansion will be led by the Creative Destruction Lab Rapid Screening Consortium (CDL RSC), Genpact (NYSE: G) and the COVID Collaborative.

"For infected people, COVID-19 is a serious health problem. However, the vast majority of people are not infected. So, for most people, COVID-19 is not a health problem, it's an information problem," said Ajay Agrawal, founder, Creative Destruction Lab; professor, Rotman School of Management. "In many regions, about one out of every thousand asymptomatic people is infected. So, it's an information problem because in the absence of the information about who the infected person is, we treat all people as if they could be infected. That has shut down significant parts of the economy and is costing society a great deal. Rapid testing is the best solution to the information problem that we're aware of."

Founded on the belief that the private sector is and must be a powerful part of the overall solution to end the pandemic, the Consortium brings together leading academics, scientists, organizations, and businesses to create an accelerating force in the fight against COVID-19. Rooted in science and informed by research, the Consortium and its participating companies are building, deploying, and sharing testing protocols related to rapid COVID-19 testing in workplaces across the country. The Consortium will offer all learnings and approaches as a public good to organizations, large and small.

"Extraordinary challenges call for extraordinary actions. With a diverse ecosystem of businesses and organizations united under a common purpose, we can enable the levels of collaboration, co-innovation and information sharing needed to drive rapid testing at scale," said Tiger Tyagarajan, chief executive officer, Genpact. "We are proud to do our part in helping to safely reopen our workplaces and the economy. Leveraging our deep process expertise and our advanced analytics, coupled with leading insights, frameworks, and perspectives of our partners and participating companies, we can act quickly and decisively to drive much needed progress."

The U.S. Rapid Action Consortium is an expansion of the successful CDL RSC work done in Canada.  The Consortium is leveraging thousands of hours of research, vast quantities of data, and insights from the thousands of rapid tests conducted in more than 40 workplace testing sites across Canada, enabling it to move quickly and aggressively in making rapid testing available and accessible at scale in workplaces across the country.

"COVID-19 employee testing still is not widely used or available for many companies across the U.S. today. With millions of lives impacted and billions of dollars being lost in economic activity each week, it is critical for companies to have a systematic approach to rapid testing," said Dr. Steven Phillips, vice president, Science and Strategy, The COVID Collaborative. "The need for business-centric rapid screening systems is essential to a healthy economy.  It will accelerate progress toward reaching herd immunity, even as vaccination rates increase. Scientists are still determining to what extent vaccinated individuals may still be infectious and are learning about the durability of immunity provided by the vaccines. In the current environment rapid screening systems are the business sector's most important intervention to return to safe, sustainable operations."

In the U.S., the founding organizations have come together to leverage their respective areas of expertise to bring innovation and agile execution:

• The Creative Destruction Lab Rapid Screening Consortium (CDL RSC) - As the founder of the rapid testing initiative in Canada, the CDL RSC, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to making rapid testing a part of a safe workplace environment, is the Thought Partner for the Consortium, expanding their successful approaches and learnings from Canada to the U.S.
• Genpact (NYSE: G) - As a founding member of the CDL RSC, Genpact is the Operating Partner for the Consortium, leveraging its expertise as a U.S.-based digital transformation company with deep experience in data analytics and process management to help the Consortium navigate this historic challenge.
• The COVID Collaborative - As a leading national assembly of experts, leaders, and institutions coming together to turn the tide on the pandemic, the COVID Collaborative is the civil society partner and advisor to the Consortium, leveraging its membership and reach to help recruit, amplify, lead, and collateralize the initiative across U.S. sectors.

The first cohort of participating companies is currently being finalized by the Consortium, with the program for cohort one set to begin on April 5. For more information on how to get involved, please visit https://www.genpact.com/rapid-action-consortium.  

About Genpact
Genpact (NYSE: G) is a global professional services firm that makes business transformation real. Led by our purpose -- the relentless pursuit of a world that works better for people -- we drive digital-led innovation and digitally enabled intelligent operations for our clients. Guided by our experience reinventing and running thousands of processes for hundreds of clients, many of them Global Fortune 500 companies, we drive real-world transformation at scale. We think with design, dream in digital, and solve problems with data and analytics. Combining our expertise in end-to-end operations and our AI-based platform, Genpact Cora, we focus on the details – all 90,000+ of us. From New York to New Delhi, and more than 30 countries in between, we connect every dot, reimagine every process, and reinvent the ways companies work. We know that reimagining each step from start to finish creates better business outcomes. Whatever it is, we'll be there with you – accelerating digital transformation to create bold, lasting results – because transformation happens here. Get to know us at Genpact.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

About the COVID Collaborative
COVID Collaborative, a project of UNITE, is a national assembly of experts, leaders and institutions in health, education and the economy and associations representing the diversity of the country to turn the tide on the pandemic by supporting federal, state and local COVID-19 response efforts.

The COVID Collaborative is co-chaired by former Governor and U.S. Senator Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) and former Governor Deval Patrick (D-MA) and led by CEO John Bridgeland. COVID Collaborative includes expertise from across Republican and Democratic administrations at the federal, state and local levels, including former FDA commissioners, CDC directors, and U.S. surgeon generals; former U.S. secretaries of Education, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services; leading public health experts and institutions that span the country; the Business Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber of Commerce; the NAACP, UnidosUS and the National Congress of American Indians; the Skoll Foundation, The Allstate Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation; and associations representing those on the front lines, from the American Public Health Association and Association of State and Territorial Health Officials to the Council of Chief State School Officers and the Council of the Great City Schools. Tim Shriver is Chairman of UNITE.

To learn more, visit www.CovidCollaborative.us, and follow the COVID Collaborative on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About the CDL Rapid Screening Consortium
The CDL Rapid Screening Consortium (CDL RSC) is a private-led, not-for-profit initiative formed in August 2020 with the goal of establishing a robust rapid screening system and operational implementation strategy to be delivered as a public good to Canada and then the world. The Consortium is led by Creative Destruction Lab. This is an unprecedented collaboration among businesses, researchers, and government working together on a singular public-interest objective. Learn more about CDL RSC at https://www.cdlrapidscreeningconsortium.com.

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