Spokane WA Columbus OH Portland OR Tracking COVID reinfection research and policy since August 2020

Marty Pack, M.A.  ·  Exec MPA a regulatory expert on COVID reinfection.

Founder, MP Consulting Marty Pack is a subject matter expert in regulatory affairs for Long COVID biorisk and biosafety consulting. She helps clients navigate complex policy environments to achieve better outcomes for their populations, staff, and membership. She is also the Executive Director of Wail of a Tale Productions.

A regulatory navigator for organizations exposed to COVID reinfection. The practice spans school districts, hospital systems, insurers, and legislative offices, anchored by the COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model delivered to Senate HELP Committee advisors on March 15, 2026.

01  /  Regulatory Navigator

Regulatory navigator for organizations exposed to COVID reinfection.

MP Consulting operates as a regulatory navigator for school districts, hospital systems, insurers, and legislative offices. The COVID reinfection landscape is moving fast and asymmetrically. Clients need a counterpart who reads the rule changes early, translates them into operational decisions, and represents the organization's interests while agencies are still drafting the standard.

The practice rests on four core functions, each anchored by the auditable methodology behind the COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model.

I

Gap analysis.

A line by line review of an organization's mitigation posture, indoor air practices, and Long COVID accommodation framework against current ASHRAE Standard 241 guidance, OSHA expectations, and emerging federal indoor air strategy. The output is a clear map of exposure points and the shortest paths to closure.

II

Regulatory intelligence.

State IAQ legislation. FDA pathway changes. Federal HHS reorganization. ADA precedent on Long COVID. ASHRAE adoption cycles. MP Consulting watches the horizon so clients adapt months or years ahead of peers, not after enforcement arrives.

III

Path to market and funding strategy.

For ventilation retrofits, mitigation policy adoption, or program and product launch in the IAQ and public health space, MP Consulting identifies the fastest and least risky regulatory pathway, including alignment with federal funding streams across IRA, IIJA, HHS, and state programs.

IV

Risk mitigation and stress testing.

How does the organization perform if a Long COVID ADA complaint lands? If a building is named in an outbreak investigation? If insurance claims escalate? MP Consulting builds the stress test before the investigation does, in partnership with legal and operations leadership.

Engaging with regulators

Effective regulatory navigation is collaborative, not adversarial. MP Consulting brings legislative office relationships and OECD aligned methodology to client work. Early engagement with agency personnel during program design clarifies expectations and shortens approval cycles. The work is built on relationships already in motion: Senate HELP Committee advisors, the Sanders health policy office, and international research partners.

02  /  About

Independent expertise, built across a decade of public health practice.

Marty Pack is a policy analyst, researcher, and creative producer with field experience that began in public health investigation and now sits at the intersection of federal policy, economic modeling, and documentary advocacy. Her focus, since August 2020, has been a topic most institutions still flinch from naming clearly: COVID reinfection.

Through MP Consulting, Marty advises school districts, hospital systems, insurers, and legislative offices on the fiscal and human costs of unmitigated transmission. Through Wail of a Tale Productions, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit she founded in 2021, she produces documentary work designed from pre production forward to generate legislative evidence infrastructure.

The result is a practitioner who can speak with equal precision to a Senate health adviser, a hospital CFO, a producer at a national podcast, or a parent asking why their child is sick again.

  • EducationB.A. and M.A., Northeastern Illinois University, summa cum laude. Exec MPA, University of Colorado Denver.
  • PracticeFormer Public Health Investigator. Policy analyst and researcher. Creative producer trained at Second City.
  • CommunityActive inside the Long COVID community since August 2020. Maintains a public Substack on systems, power, and public health policy.
  • AffiliationsFounder and Executive Director, Wail of a Tale Productions. Founder, MP Consulting.

03  /  The Model

The COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model.

Marty Pack created the COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model: a benefit cost framework that quantifies the federal fiscal and social welfare returns of investing in proven COVID mitigation. It is OMB Circular A-94 compliant and draws on 112 peer reviewed sources.

Status

Delivered to Senate HELP Committee advisors on March 15, 2026, Long COVID Awareness Day. Methodology aligned with and verified through OECD's framework, April 2026. Active engagement with the Sanders health team.

Naming

The COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model is the canonical title. The model is filed with the U.S. Copyright Office under that name.

4.59:1
Federal fiscal benefit cost ratio. Every dollar invested returns $4.59 to the federal balance sheet.
Federal Fiscal BCR
8.38:1
Total societal value generated per dollar of investment, gross.
Social Welfare BCR (gross)
6.01:1
Net of program costs across the public and private sectors.
Social Welfare BCR (net)
3.21:1
Reinfection sensitive conservative scenario. The floor, not the ceiling.
RS Conservative BCR
$5.19B
Three year federal investment modeled across the program window.
Federal Investment
~84 days
Approximate federal fiscal payback period.
Payback
35%
Program effectiveness rate, conservatively parameterized after external peer review.
Effectiveness Rate
112
Peer reviewed sources cited in the model. The full methodology is auditable end to end.
Peer Reviewed Sources
A-94
OMB Circular A-94 compliant. The federal standard for benefit cost analysis.
Federal Standard

04  /  Validation

The model is independently validated.

In April 2026, the OECD published Addressing the Costs and Care for Long COVID, a microsimulation across 42 countries. The methodology behind the COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model is aligned with and verified through the OECD's framework. The shared architecture, dual frame valuation and the dominance of indirect over direct costs, is identical.

The OECD framework provides international validation. OECD's reach across 42 countries comes at the cost of U.S. specific cost lines: U.S. cohort data on reinfection compounding, U.S. peer reviewed literature on downstream noncommunicable disease burden, and the OMB Circular A-94 standard required for U.S. appropriations decisions. The COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model carries the cost lines OECD's framework leaves on the table, and provides the U.S. federal instrument.

Reinfection

OECD does not model reinfection. The COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model prices it, anchored in the Statistics Canada cohort showing 15 percent Long COVID risk after one infection, 27 percent after two, 38 percent after three. The Barcelona cohort confirms.

Cumulative damage

OECD acknowledges cardiovascular, diabetes, and noncommunicable disease acceleration in narrative, then excludes them from the cost model. The COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model carries them through, priced via downstream healthcare and disability cost lines.

Mortality

Excess mortality from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular sequelae is unmonetized in OECD. The COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model reflects it directly in benefit lines.

Federal usability

OECD is descriptive across 42 countries. The COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model is OMB Circular A-94 compliant, the standard required for federal regulatory and appropriations decisions in the United States.

Time scope

OECD truncates to 2025 through 2035 with assumed recovery. The COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model carries longer horizon NCD costs that emerge after the OECD model has retired the case.

"No one was looking at reinfection or the cumulative damage COVID is doing to our bodies. Every mitigation effort is a return on investment. No one was doing the work, so I did it."

Marty Pack, M.A. Exec MPA

05  /  Speaking

Topics for podcasts, briefings, and on the record interviews.

Marty speaks fluently on the science, the economics, and the politics. Each topic is built on auditable data and lived practice.

01

The hidden economic engine: why COVID reinfection drives federal costs.

Why the unwillingness to name reinfection in policy is itself the largest fiscal liability on the table, and what the numbers actually show.

02

The ROI of Long COVID mitigation: a benefit cost framework for lawmakers.

A walk through the COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model in language a policy adviser, a journalist, or a parent can act on.

03

ASHRAE Standard 241 and the future of safer schools.

Indoor air quality is no longer fringe. What a federal indoor air strategy looks like in practice, and what is blocking it.

04

HHS dismantlement and the capacity gap in American public health.

What the FY2027 HHS budget tells you about the trajectory of American public health, and where the leverage points still are.

06  /  Engagements

Recent and ongoing work.

March 15, 2026

Senate HELP Committee delivery.

The COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model was delivered to Senate HELP Committee advisors on Long COVID Awareness Day. Engagement with the Sanders health team has continued since.

April 2026

OECD framework verification.

The model methodology was independently aligned with and verified through OECD's framework (doi:10.1787/87a0c171-en).

April 13, 2026

Briefing with Senator Sanders' health policy liaison.

Marty Pack met with the health policy liaison to Senator Bernie Sanders on the Senate HELP Committee to walk through the COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model and its implications for federal investment in mitigation. The engagement is ongoing.

2026

Maryland COVID Reinfection ROI Model for MIAQA.

Marty Pack created a Maryland companion model for client MIAQA, led by Adam Van Bavel, returning a 23.4:1 gross social welfare benefit cost ratio at the state level.

In production

Documentary slate at Wail of a Tale.

"Breathing Lessons: The Science of Safer Schools" (school IAQ, ASHRAE 241, Long COVID in children) and "Cutting Costs / Cutting Lives" (HHS dismantlement, Long COVID, public health infrastructure) are both in active production.

07  /  Booking

Book Marty for podcasts, briefings, and consulting engagements.

Available for podcast appearances, regulatory consulting, expert briefings, and on the record interviews. Topics span the COVID Mitigation ROI Economic Model, indoor air quality policy, public health infrastructure, and the documentary as policy advocacy.

For media or consulting inquiries, please use the contact details to the right. A one pager and the OECD comparison brief are available on request.

Direct contact

Phone 312 835 4033
Locations Spokane WA  /  Columbus OH  /  Portland OR
Sister org wailofatale.org